Grit is second nature for Zoe McDowell. She dives into every challenge – from navigating difficult investing decisions to handling the ’08 recession’s effect on her family ranch – with tenacity and levity. Her story from Southeast Texas to her role as an investor at Orion spans through multiple jobs, a first-generation college experience, and more goats than one might expect.
I grew up in a small, rural town in Texas as the youngest of six. My dad was a cowboy from West Texas (one of his first jobs was breaking horses), and my mom is a very strong, devout woman who focused on instilling values of diligence and integrity in all six of her kids. Neither of my parents graduated from high school, and I can unequivocally say they are two of the smartest people I’ve ever met.
Most of my siblings were pretty athletic, and it was discovered quickly in my life that I was not bestowed with similar gifts. But all hope was not lost – I was a very nerdy child, and my parents really leaned into that. My mom taught me how to play solitaire before I could read, and I think I was helping balance their checkbook by third grade.
One thing my siblings and I did have in common was raising animals. Being the baby, I always had a chip on my shoulder, so I wanted to stand out even in our commonalities. My brother and sisters raised lambs and cattle, so naturally, I chose goats. I started off with two goats we got for free – and if you ever find yourself wondering about the disposition of a goat you get for free… well, there’s a reason they’re free.
I was about five when I first started raising goats. I was getting up at 5 AM every morning before school to put out hay and alfalfa for them, and I lived for it. Eventually, I started thinking about how to grow my herd, and before long, I had a few goats to bring to the sale barn every season.
When the recession hit in 2008 alongside a tough drought, I still had to keep my goats fed during difficult times. When I talked to my dad about it, he told me I had better figure it out. I started selling fertilizer from my herd (which, yes, means exactly what you think it means), and I was able to earn enough to tide us over for the downturn. At its largest, my herd was over 50 goats – making me the self-proclaimed Queen of Goats. (Can you tell I’ve always had a flair for the dramatics?)
We got rid of our land when my dad passed away, and I threw myself into school. I’m very proud to have graduated high school at the top of my class, and I credit it all to the values my parents instilled in me. Rising and setting with the sun, having accomplished a full day of work by the time I got to school, really taught me the value of hard work.
Focusing on my studies really showed me that I had always gravitated toward numbers. As an example, when my siblings moved out, the barn that held their livestock was no longer in use, so I had my dad panel it off to store feed. If we bought feed at its seasonal low and held it through the cold season that pushed prices up, we could save money at no cost to us. I was nine years old, gabbing in my dad’s ear when I told him my plan, but he listened to me. I realize now I was thinking about economic concepts like opportunity cost before I could do long division.
In elementary school, I decided I would use the money I made from my herd to become the first person in my family to go to college. I had never been handy like my dad or siblings. I spent my time reading all the books in our local library. But in a small town where everyone knew my parents hadn’t graduated high school, it was assumed I would follow in their footsteps. I was very reactionary to that. I told everybody I was never going to get married or have kids (a concept that was unheard of in the Bible belt that raised me). Instead, I was going to move to New York and become a CEO. Some of those things are already not true (God bless my husband!), but it was my reaction to my environment at the time. If you told me I fundamentally could not accomplish something, I would tell you to sit back and watch me.
I went to the University of Texas because it was the flagship school of my great state of Texas (and, of course, as someone who grew up in Aggieland, I wanted to be different). I had grown up watching UT football with my dad, so it was a special decision for me that I knew he would be proud of.
There was a lot about the world my hometown sheltered me from, and I realized that truth once I found myself in Austin. I thought I was so smart, but when I got to college, I was surrounded by people who seemed to know more than me and who had far more resources than I did. They talked about their favorite places to ski in the winter while I had never seen snow. I felt almost constantly like I was on the fringes – not just in classes but even in conversations.
On top of that, navigating the college process without any family members who had done it before was pretty isolating. Attending college as a first-generation student on scholarships is tough in a city when most students come from cities and suburbs where it’s not just assumed that they’ll go to college but of course graduate, too.
By the end of college, I graduated from the honors program with two degrees while working multiple minimum wage jobs to fund my schooling. Out of necessity, I learned how to ruthlessly manage my time. Thankfully, this helped me land my first job in the finance industry.
I worked for a property manager as they prepared for the sale of a 30-story mixed-use property. I learned a lot about how a company runs their books, which has shaped the course of my career so far.
My husband (boyfriend at the time) got accepted to a PhD program in New York, so we moved to the city and fulfilled little Zoe’s wish. That was a full circle moment for me: how often do you get the chance to fulfill your childhood dream? Beyond the bone-chilling winters and my Uber rating going down (NYC drivers really don’t like it when you try to chat with them), I’ve treasured my time in the city.
When I thought about uprooting my life in Texas, I always kept in mind the question of Who am I working for? Who am I serving? One of the things that drew me to Orion was its focus on field services.
The business owners we work with remind me a lot of my siblings and parents, and even though I’m in the middle of New York, home doesn’t feel so far away when I’m talking to people who remind me of my family.
I am not mechanically inclined like my brother, but I can still help people like him. I’m not a successful entrepreneur like my father, but I can still support individuals like him. My family’s tangible work may still be underappreciated by society, but in this role, I can enable those in the trades to be the best they can be, through the work I do best.
If in 30 years, I talk to someone who sold their business to us, and they tell me about how that sale helped their daughter become the first in their family to go to college, I’ll feel so proud and fulfilled in having supported them through that. I know how much courage it takes to say, Look what I’m going to do, and then actually follow through with it.
Even when we’re busy, our team makes the time to connect and laugh with each other. The work itself is very serious. You’re making multimillion-dollar decisions. But you yourself don’t need to be too serious all the time. The fact that I can have fun with my team while getting important things done fills me with a deep sense of joy.
Looking ahead, I’m most excited to develop my leadership skills. I’m managing someone for the first time right now (hopefully that isn’t too obvious to him), and I feel a great sense of responsibility for him. He’s putting his career in my hands, so I want to make sure he’s getting the opportunities that will be the most impactful for him. As someone who has had the pleasure of having a great manager at Orion, I’m excited to be that advocate for someone else.
I feel so wholeheartedly that training up our junior talent and handing the reigns over to them is how we build our future. You don’t get to that future without really prioritizing it. I’m excited to pour back into my team the way this team has invested so much in me, just a girl from Southeast Texas who used to raise goats. (I haven’t kept animals besides my rescue dog Kiki since then, but I do think someday, I’ll get my herd back.)
Partnerships
Leo
February 19, 2026
