Photo contributed | Rizpah Bellard poses in front of a street ad in Los Angeles that features her photo for the “Got Milk?” campaign.

A Central Valley cowgirl carrying on her family’s cattle-ranching tradition was recently featured in a popular national advertising campaign.

Rizpah Bellard, 31, owner of Nova Farming in Fresno, is part of a new “Got Milk?” ad campaign highlighting diversity in the state’s ag and dairy industry. The campaign also marks three decades of what many consider one of the most iconic advertising efforts of all time.

Nova Farming specializes in raising grass-fed Wagyu and Angus beef.

The “Got Milk?” campaign was launched in 1994 by the California Milk Processor Board to encourage milk consumption. The campaign became famous for its television commercials and posters featuring celebrities sporting the iconic milk mustache.

Bellard said the talent agency for the campaign reached out to her in August asking if she would be one of its 10 representatives in the state.

“The whole point of this new campaign is to show the realness and diversity in California. They want to promote people drinking real California milk, but also to show the different faces of people in California,” Bellard said.

Bellard said it’s important to show diverse faces in the ag industry.

She grew up on a cattle ranch in Guinda, a town in Yolo County. That’s where her family raised sheep, goats, pigs, cows, horses, ponies and chickens. She moved to Fresno in 2021 after earning a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a master’s from the University of Denver.

Bellard is not only a cowgirl, but a Black cowgirl, and though she lives in an age where overt racism in the industry has died down, it has not vanished.

 

She said she had opportunities that her father, Black trailblazing agriculturalist Cleveland Bellard, didn’t. Her father graduated from Fresno State in the 1980s, where he was the only Black student majoring in animal husbandry.

She said that her father had cattle stolen from him, was denied agricultural loans and had buyers default on business loans. Some of those clients would go on to do business with White male counterparts.

Bellard said these days, loan officers and wholesale buyers are looking to support ranchers of any race and gender.

As an agriculturalist and rancher, she said her job is to feed people in a safe and responsible way, and this campaign showcases hope for the future of the ag industry.

Bellard partners with local schools to introduce students to agriculture, especially the wide range of career opportunities it offers.

“I think it’s important for someone like me to show where food comes from, how it’s made, and to start the conversation somewhere. The hope is these kids want to go to college for agriculture or something similar,” Bellard said.

The “Got Milk?” ad campaign will be digital as well as on billboards and posters at places such as bus stops.

Bellard said a billboard featuring her campaign photo will go up in the Fresno area, though she does not yet know the exact location.

Oakland is one of the places where friends have seen her ad — and shared pics on social media.

She said she remembers seeing the “Got Milk?” campaign posters in the school library and cafeteria, many of which featured celebrities and athletes, and specifically remembers the one of tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams.

“We remember the “Got Milk?” campaign very positively,” Bellard said. “I haven’t heard about it or seen it in years. Granted, I’m not in school, but people in my age group all remember seeing the posters in school. It’s exciting to be a part of something that everybody feels so positively about.”