Najiah Knight is a 17-year-old high school junior from small-town Oregon who is on a yearslong quest to become the first woman to compete at the top level of the Professional Bull Riders tour. As Anne M. Peterson writes in a profile for the AP, she isn't eligible to join until later this year ear, when she turns 18, and even then, she'll have to prove she's good enough to qualify. There's fierce competition: Only about 30 of the best riders from around the world reach the top. It takes time, travel, money, and, perhaps most of all, guts. The sport is undeniably dangerous, with riders frequently injured and even killed, though that doesn't seem to faze Najiah. "Since I was a little kid, 3 years old, I would tell my dad that this is what I'm gonna do."
In getting there, Najiah and her family have been strategic in promoting her, with an eye on the long game. They've cultivated her image on social media and courted key sponsorships to help pay for junior-level rodeo entry fees and travel. Events that count toward qualifying in her region have taken her to North Dakota, Idaho, California, Colorado, and Wyoming. Najiah has deals with Cooper Tires and Ariat, the boot and clothing maker, among others. A condition of her sponsorships is maintaining good grades back home in Arlington, Oregon, and Najiah has a 4.0 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society. She hopes to attend the University of Oregon, even while trying to reach the pro tour, and eventually become a role model for women and Native Americans. (Her family is Paiute, part of the Klamath Tribes.)
"There is the hopeful side of me that wants her to be a world champion in the next five or six years," says PBR CEO Sean Gleason. "I think I'm a fairly optimistic guy, and so I believe that anything is possible for her. She's been committed. She's been working at it for a long, long time." But he points out "it's a very difficult sport." Najiah long ago accepted the danger and the challenge of her goal. She insists she has what it takes: the passion, the nerve, the confidence, the focus. "I don't care about what anyone else thinks," she says. "I do this for me." Read the full story.
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