Peer to Pier Interview -- Lynn Pirozzoli

Lynn Pirozzoli, 55, is proprietor of the Black Horse Inn, an historic estate circa 1850 located in the rolling hills of Northern Virginia’s horse country. An equestrian from an early age, Lynn credits her love of the outdoors as the impetus for an initial career as one of the country’s first environmental scientists. Seeking to make change from the inside out, she pursued a career in the mining industry, where she designed and implemented ground-breaking programs in land reclamation. Her success led to the White House and a policy-making position with the Environmental Protection Agency. Returning to a corporate role, Lynn literally struck gold, a piece of good fortune that later enabled her to undertake a reclamation project of a more personal sort, transforming a run-down property into her dream home and a destination for those seeking a peaceful country respite.

That leap took courage—which Lynn has in abundance. From crossing miners’ picket lines to proposing a position for herself with the Department of the Interior—not to mention surviving a fire that consumed nearly two-thirds of her body–Lynn has dared to live a life of intention. Along the way, she married the proverbial “boy next door” when in her late forties, and today she shares their labor of love, the Black Horse Inn, with couples seeking the perfect setting for their vows. Lynn reminded me that life is short and we need to make time to honor our dreams and all that we consider important. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Lynn.

Meg: I understand you have been a life-long equestrian. Tell me about how that passion began.

Lynn: The riding that I did as a youth served as the foundation for riding throughout my life. Wherever I was, I always rode horses. They have been a huge part of my life. They are my love; they provide me with a respite from the stress and strain of everyday life. To quote Winston Churchill, “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”

I was born and raised in Connecticut, with much influence from my Grandmother, who survived the Depression and my parents who gave me a strong work ethic. When I was 12 years old I started my first business, where I would clean houses after school. Many of the homes that I cleaned were nearby, but there were many that required “taxi” service by my mother in her Cadillac. My clients always had a good laugh when “the maid” would arrive in a Cadillac! Eventually I saved enough money to invest in the stock market. At age 12, I asked my father what might be a safe investment for my hard-earned money. He told me to invest in utilities, and I did, reaping the rewards of a safe, but steadily growing industry. I learned much about investing and finance from my father. With the profit, I was able to put the money toward my riding and my education, which gave me a terrific sense of responsibility.

My sisters and I started riding lessons at an early age. I was just seven years old. As we progressed and became more proficient riders, we asked my father if we could purchase our own horses and keep them on our property. After much pleading for many months, my very wise father gave us conditional consent, based on an economic analysis and yearly plan. This was the most important lesson that I ever learned in my entire career and I am forever grateful that my father taught us this very valuable lesson at an early age.

My sister and I had to develop a plan that would take into consideration all of the expenses of building a barn, fencing pastures and expenses for the feeding and care of the horses. He required that we meet with at least three contractors for bids on the barn. At ages 7 and 10 we interviewed contractors for the job, developing a blueprint for the facility and a plan to board horses for profit which would cover the costs of caring for our horses. We had to work on a presentation, which we performed in front of my mother and father. After careful consideration, we were finally granted approval, with the conditions that we were completely and totally responsible for the care and upkeep of the horses and the stables year-round.

Of course, the barn did not have running water, so that meant hauling water to the horses before school each morning and evening, even in the dead of winter! If our grades went below a “B” we would relinquish our right to own horses and keep them on property. My sister and I divided chores and made it work. We learned such valuable lessons from this, and if you think about it, some of the most important business dealings are based on the same requirements: gathering information, assembling it to appeal to the audience and presenting it in a favorable fashion. As a matter of fact, I am still presenting things in the same manner today. If you learn this lesson early on in life, it certainly can reap rewards that you never dreamed of throughout your life.

Meg: I believe you were an engineer in your first career—what prompted you to undertake that profession?

Lynn: I went to college at Colorado State University to get a degree in environmental science. My great love for the outdoors led me to a profession that would protect the environment. At that time, there were very few universities that offered curriculum–much less a degree–in environmental science. Colorado State University allowed me to put together a self-designed major and I graduated in 1978 with a degree in environmental science, with a strong background in range management and reclamation. I was one of the first environmental scientists in the nation!

Being out West was a major positive factor for my love of the environment and provided me with many opportunities to use my degree in what had traditionally been male-dominated workforce. My professor called me just days after graduation and asked if I would be interested in mapping and managing mine land reclamation for a large uranium mine in Riverton, Wyoming. As a typical college student might respond, I said that I was going to Europe to backpack for the summer. He then went on to say that I would be the highest-paid student from the graduating class, and that I should said reconsider, since I could backpack in style in the future if I should accept this offer. He said that the mining industry did not typically hire scientists and they were willing to pay the salary of an engineer for an environment scientist, particularly a woman scientist, since in that day and age, there were quotas to be filled for women in male-dominated industries. Needless to say, I jumped for joy! It was a lucrative offer and I packed my bags for Riverton, Wyoming. By the way, I never did backpack in Europe, but since then I have seen most of Europe while staying at the finest hotels and taking riding trips through some of the most beautiful areas on the world’s finest horses.

Meg: What was a typical day in the life of an early environmental scientist?

Lynn: As the first environmental “engineer” on site at the mine, I rode the bus with the miners to and from work each day, a commute which took over an hour each way. At first, I was ostracized. There was not a man on the bus that would sit with me. If they did, they would be ridiculed by the rest of the Miners. In time I got to know many of the miners and we would share books on the bus. We even started an informal “book club” where we would discuss the books and trade books with each other.

It didn’t take long before mining management made me an offer to become a salaried employee. After that I no longer rode the bus with the miners anymore. However, the bond that we established was never lost and although I became part of management, the miners would always keep an eye out for me to ensure my safety and success. In fact, one summer the miners union had a strike and management had to assume responsibilities day and night to keep the mine running. I learned to drive a Michigan 357 Front End Loader to feed the “grizzly” (a crushing unit for uranium ore at the mill), a water truck and a haul truck that required a ladder to climb into the cab. The equipment was giant size and dangerous in the mines. One false move and you could go over a 1000-foot drop to the bottom of the pit you were mining. During the strike, some miners would sabotage the haul trucks that were going to be used by management to keep the mine operational. However, my truck was always safe and in good working order each day. The camaraderie on the bus certainly paid off in the long run. Management would also have me run into town crossing picket lines, knowing that the miners would never harm me. I have to laugh that they would hide behind a woman’s skirts to get the job done, but nonetheless, I was probably the only one that could cross picket lines unharmed.

I went to work in the underground silver mines in the Silver Valley of Northern Idaho in 1990 where I was again a pioneer in my field. In the Silver Valley, the only female profession was prostitution. There were three houses of ill-repute in town and the miners would frequent them nightly. The old superstition was that if a female went underground that her presence would cause a “rock-burst” resulting in a cave-in. Women were bad luck and not welcomed in the mines. The older miners still believed in these superstitions and I was not welcome underground. To teach me a lesson, they once Planned an episode on the “cage” (an elevator that would take you 5000+ feet into the bowels of the earth.) To frighten me they would drop the cage at free fall, hoping to hear me scream! With nerves of steel, I figured if they weren’t screaming that I didn’t need to either.

When I was hired by Hecla Mining Company, my boss, Bill Griffith called me into his office and told me that I was the first professional woman in not only Wallace, Idaho but the entire the Silver Valley. He told me that I was to uphold my professional image at all costs and he put out an ultimatum to all the miners in the Silver Valley (not just with Hecla Mining Company but with all other companies operating in the Valley) that offered me protection at all costs. He put out the word that if I was ever harmed, in any way, that he would personally see to the banishment of the individual not only in Wallace, Idaho, but the entire Silver Valley. Anyone laying a hand on me would be banned from ever working another job there forever more. He gave me some tips on being safe in the underground mines. He required that I always take a professional male counterpart with me underground, like a geologist or the mine manager, as not to be wandering around in the stopes alone. His advice was heeded and I lived very happily in the Silver Valley, conducting environmental work and doing mine land reclamation.

Meg: Can you define what reclamation is?

Lynn: Reclamation is the conversion of mined or other disturbed lands into economically productive properties, such as grazing land or orchards; and the conversion of disturbed lands to natural or semi-natural habitat. Environmental rehabilitation includes both ‘restoration’ and ‘creation’. It is used primarily to indicate improvements of a visual nature to a natural ecosystem. In the Mojave Desert, the area had been severely disturbed by the ‘49ers” in the 1800’s. The “49 er’s” would mine gold that they could visibly see and would leave large “glory” holes wherever they mined. They were called glory holes, because if you accidentally fell into one, you could fall as much as a half- mile down a shaft, resulting in going to your “glory”. Our reclamation plan for this area was to reclaim the glory holes, without disturbing bat habitat and to salvage existing vegetation, place it in a salvaged plant holding area and use it for final reclamation to provide a “natural” habitat. We also constructed greenhouses for desert plant propagation, which was a first for a mining company to accomplish. We took direction from the University of California, who helped us extensively in the green house design and desert plant propagation techniques. The final product was most certainly an improvement over what the landscape resembled before the project started and is now safe and productive land for wildlife and recreational use.

Meg: I understand you’ve literally struck gold. Wow! Can you describe the experience?

Lynn: We all “strike gold” in life one way or the other, but I was literally given the opportunity to strike gold. There was an old mine in the California desert that had been mined in the 1800’s by the “49er’s, that held the opportunity to reap millions of dollars with the microscopic bits of gold left over long after the 49er’s had reaped their rewards. With new technology these microscopic particles could be extracted and processed. Ross Fitzpatrick, President and CEO of Viceroy Gold Corporation contacted me to conduct the environmental permitting to put the mine into operation.

There were a few things that would cause this project to be an uphill battle. First, the mine was in California, the most heavily environmentally regulated state in the Union. Second, the mine was located in what later became a protected area, with endangered desert tortoises. Third, there were seven environmental organizations that were opposed to the project and were pursuing legal action to prevent the project from moving forward. He only had a 50/50 chance of pulling this off, but he was a tenacious individual who had the Midas touch. I agreed to help him with the project. After three years and 30 million dollars of environmental mitigation, the company was granted the permits to finally turn the first shovelful of dirt. The seven environmental groups that were adamantly opposed to the project ultimately testified at the hearing on the project’s behalf. It was a win/win situation for the company and the environment and to this day I consider it to be the most challenging and most important projects that I have ever worked on. Of course, all that training as a kid on giving presentations came into play and I can only attribute the success in getting approval to my younger days of giving the best presentation to reap the rewards of success.

Meg: You have several firsts to your credit. I imagine being a pioneer isn’t always easy. Could you speak to the positives and challenges of paving the way?

Lynn: As a woman and an environmentalist in the male-dominated mining industry, my career was truly a challenge. The mining industry at that time did not even have a job description for environmental scientist. They paid me the going rate for an engineer, as they had no job description for a scientist, much less an environmental scientist. At that time there were many women who were breaking through the glass ceiling.

As a single woman, alone in a male dominated environment, I really had to be the best of the best. My professional and my personal persona were one in the same. I had to be the ultimate professional at all times and hold my ground to ensure that the mining companies did the right thing when it came to environmental protection. This was new to them, and taking direction from a woman was unheard of. These challenges were only overcome by attitude, and my attitude had a direct effect on their perception of a problem and the ultimate dynamics of our relationship to get the job done. This opportunity gave me the perseverance and tenacity to overcome any challenge in life. It made me the person that I am today.

Charles R. Swindoll said it best: “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

Meg: You refer to having had several mentors—can you talk about the role of counselors in your life, including how these relationships came about?

Lynn: Nothing in life is a coincidence. God puts people in our lives for a reason and though it may seem a coincidence, many times these people have a huge impact on our lives. One of the greatest mentors in my life was Ray Friedlob from Denver Colorado. Ray was the chairman of the RNC and I met him on an airplane when I was still attending college. We struck up a conversation on the plane about environment and he was astounded to hear of my philosophy toward the incorporation of environmental ideals into corporate philosophy. You see, I did not believe in joining an environmental group to make changes in environmental policy. I firmly believed that to make changes in an industry, one needed to wholeheartedly join it and make the changes from within. That is why I was excited to work in the uranium mines in Wyoming upon graduating from Colorado State University. It was a way to make a huge impact on the way things were done for the entire industry. The reclamation of hundreds of thousands of acres of land was a success story that was referred to in the text books as a hands-on case of how to conduct successful mine land reclamation.

Meg: How did you ever go from the mines to the White House?

Lynn: To further my professional career, I started the first environmental committee for the Northwest Mining Association in Spokane, Washington. This organization hosts one of the largest and most well-attended conventions for the mining industry in the Pacific Northwest. As Environmental Chairman, I invited a number of renowned government officials from Washington, D.C. to speak, including EPA Administrator, Ann Gorsuch-Burford, while she was being indicted by the Justice Department for exercising her right of executive privilege. The media was all over her at the time and as a result, when she came to the convention, there was not a room that could hold the media, reporters and participants! There must have been 1500 people in attendance at the session. My mentor, Ray Friedlob, guided me in making a most favorable impression on the Administration officials, including hosting a cocktail party for all of the renowned guests attending the convention.

This bit of sound advice later resulted in a political appointment in Washington D.C. My first assignment was at the Department of the Interior in the Office of Surface Mining, where I soon learned that government was a huge machine that worked a snail’s pace in comparison to private industry. I knew that I was destined to help in a bigger way, and at age 22 I wrote a proposal (yes–my experience as a child shines through once again) to the Secretary of the Interior, proposing a new position in his office. I suggested that he needed a person to monitor Cabinet activities and policy issues and suggested that I was just the person to act as his interface with other Cabinet agencies and brief him on matters with the President. There was no one more surprised than I when he assigned me an office in his wing as Special Assistant for Policy Review and Cabinet Affairs. Later I went on to represent the Secretary of Energy in the same capacity with the White House and later became White Hose Liaison at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). While at the EPA I wrote over 100 pieces of testimony which ultimately molded policy at the Agency in the 1980’s.

Meg: Tell me about becoming a Virginian and the owner of the Black Horse Inn.

Lynn: When I served the Administration in the early 1980’s I had brought my horse Zack from northern Idaho to Virginia while I worked in Washington DC. We had always been a successful team, competing in three-day eventing out West. I took Zack with me and started to ride with the hunt in Virginia. The landscape is the ultimate dream for riders. You can ride for miles and miles without ever having to open a gate. The terrain is challenging, the footing is terrific, there are many people that love the sport as much as you do and it is a joy riding in Virginia.

Hunters Haven Then

I purchased the property in 1992 and it was in “dire straits.” It required a considerable amount of time, effort and money to restore it into the majestic estate it once was. It had suffered from years of neglect. Why did I buy the property? Well…the horses made me do it! I had seven horses that I had purchased in California and after I left the gold mining operation I took a position as Vice President of Resource Management International, with offices in Washington, D.C. After searching for a property that could comfortably provide a respite for me and my horses, I came across the manor house that is now known as the Black Horse Inn.

After one year and three months of restoration and renovation, I was able to open the doors to the public. I had decided that corporate work was no longer for me and that I would explore my entrepreneurial skills.

Hunters Haven Now

Thus the Black Horse Inn was born. Named after the Black Horse Cavalry, the Inn possessed the features of Virginia lifestyle, including history, horses and old time charm. In 2001 we added a grand ballroom to the property to host the ever expanding weddings that have been such a popular draw to wedding couples from near and afar.

Our success is contingent on our attention to detail. We are blessed with a beautiful property that hosts many memorable events for our brides and grooms and there is nothing that gives me more pleasure than to share this beautiful property with others.

Meg: The area of Virginia you are located in is known as “Hunt Country.” Can you explain what a Hunt involves, what about the activity draws people, the culture of the sports?

Lynn: The sport of foxhunting Virginia is steeped in tradition and history. While there are very obvious similarities to fox-hunting in Britain, such as the traditional dress code, there are many differences that may not be as obvious to the casual observer. The biggest difference between the two is in the focus of the sport. Foxhunters as a group and individually, demonstrate a deep appreciation for the environment they use for hunting activities and respect for all other users, particularly the wildlife, which are seen as opponents in a game rather than as candidates for extinction.

In Europe and England (until the controversial ban of the sport in 2004), the goal of a hunt is generally to kill the quarry, whereas in North America, the goal is to “account for” the quarry. Rarely is the quarry killed. Here, it is the thrill of the chase that counts. The quarry, in Virginia it is usually fox, is chased across fields and through wooded areas over all sorts of obstacles by a pack of specially bred and trained hounds, followed by the riders on horseback. The hunt ends when the hounds lose the scent and the fox gets away, or when the quarry is treed or brought to bay, the hounds are called off by the Huntsman, and again, the quarry gets away. Many supporters of foxhunting here give of their time, energies and financial resources to further the sport but do not actually participate in hunting themselves. For many of the members of the hunt, the social aspects are a big part of the sport. Hunt Breakfasts (which don’t always take place at breakfast time), Hunt Balls, Point to Points, Tailgate Parties are all part of the social side of Foxhunting in Virginia. Non-riders are often welcome at these social events.

Meg: I understand you relatively recently married the boy next door. Can you describe finding your partner under your nose?

Lynn: I never thought I would find my true love, but as soon as you think that, he finally appears. When I moved to Warrenton in 1992, I met all the neighbors, including Edra and Bill Mauro and who lived just two doors down. We would get together when there was an issue that required the attention of the neighborhood. Generally these meetings were hosted at the

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