Minnesota grit, Texas skyline

When Tanya Ragan looks out the window of her office in downtown Dallas, she sees a city of millions, bustling with history and commerce. 

She owns the building she stands in, a historic site that served as the FBI’s operation center following the JFK assassination. 

As the founder of Wildcat Management and the only female owner of a real estate investment and development company in downtown Dallas, Ragan has spent the last 20 years revitalizing the city’s core.

But before she was closing deals in Texas, she was thawing out water bowls in sub-zero temperatures in Minnesota.

Ragan credits her journey from a hobby farm in southeastern Minnesota to the boardroom in Dallas directly to her time in Minnesota 4-H. 

A member of the Burr Oak Beavers and, later, president of the Pleasant Grove 4-H Club in Olmsted County, Ragan says the lessons she learned showing rabbits made her "beyond ready" for the high-stakes world of business.

The pathway to community development

While the leap from showing rabbits to developing commercial real estate might seem vast, Ragan sees a direct line between the two. 

After working in fashion and the oil industry, she founded her own company in 2006. She quickly realized that real estate wasn't just about buildings; it was about people.

In 2009, Ragan organized a business organization that advocated to privatize and create a neighborhood district, which is now the largest residential district in downtown Dallas. She realized she was essentially replicating the 4-H model on a metropolitan scale.

"It's just like in your 4-H club, where you're bringing all the people together who all have their various interests," Ragan says. "You're all working towards the same goal to improve that community — in our case, residents and businesses."

This instinct for community building has led her to serve on hiring committees for the Dallas police chief, lobby for homeless commissions and revitalize historic structures. "People ask, 'How did you know to do that?' It's because of what I've done my whole life," she says. “That sense of giving back...was established at a young age from being involved in something like 4-H."

Building a foundation of responsibility

Ragan’s 4-H career began as a Cloverbud and continued through high school graduation. 

Her primary project was raising rabbits, a passion that grew from her backyard hutch to competing annually at the Minnesota State Fair and shows across the state.

Those state fair ribbons were earned not at the fair, but in the grit of Minnesota winters. Ragan recalls the intense responsibility of caring for livestock, regardless of the conditions.

"When you have animals, even when it's 25 below zero Fahrenheit, you go out in freezing weather to thaw out crocks and water bowls," Ragan recalls. "If you don't put in the work, the animal suffers. There is a maturity that comes with that at a young age."

Beyond the barn, Ragan honed her leadership skills as president of the Pleasant Grove 4-H Club. Learning to conduct meetings, manage different personalities and ensure quieter members had a voice gave her a distinct advantage when she entered the corporate world.

To this day, Ragan remembers her roots. Every year since she graduated from the program, she has sponsored the Grand Champion Rabbit award in Olmsted County, giving the next generation a chance to gain the leadership skills she did.