By Bill Finley
When the winners of the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards, which are sponsored by Godolphin, were announced, anyone who knew the story of Julianne Stowell could not have been surprised that she won the “Newcomer Award.” It wasn't just that she was thriving as the Client Relations Manager at Niall Brennan Stables, it was how far she had come in such a short time to land that position.
Six years earlier, she was locked up at the Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala, Florida. When it came to her future, she felt like there was nothing that was going to turn her life around.
Fast forward to this year and she has never been happier, is sober and living a life that is more fulfilling than she ever expected.
“I just love what I do,” Stowell said. “I love the horses, but the people are just as great.”
Stowell, 31, was typical of the women who wind up at Lowell. At every turn, she went in the wrong direction, making one mistake after another and hanging out with the wrong crowd.
She grew up in Port Canaveral, Florida, which she said was a hot spot during spring break and that the party never quite ended. She made it through high school and was enrolled in college when her grandfather passed away in 2013 after developing Alzheimer's. She was very close to him and his death set her into a spiral that led her down a path where she went back to taking drugs and involving herself with a boyfriend who was a drug dealer.
She had her skirmishes here and there with the police but nothing that was so serious that it meant a prison term. That changed in 2017 when she got arrested on a multitude of charges, including theft, drug charges and for fleeing and alluding a high-speed pursuit. She was sentenced to six years.
When asked if she ever thought she'd be where she is today, she said: “No way. I was incarcerated. Early on in my sentence, it was hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel. It was hard to see a better picture.”
But there was at least one thing at Lowell that gave her a glimmer of hope. Lowell is part of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation's Second Chances program. The women in that program are responsible for taking care of the horses that are at the prison's farm. The goal is not only for them to learn skills that may lead to a good job upon their release but to also flourish because they are entrusted with taking care of an animal, one that has a unique bond with mankind.
“From the minute I got to the prison I was interested in the program,” Stowell said. “You start off going to the reception center, which is where everybody goes when they first enter the prison. It is literally right behind the farm where the horses are so you can see the horses up on a hill. I immediately started asking questions. 'What is that over there?' I became aware of the program from the moment I got there and my goal, my mission, was to get involved in the program.”
It took four years, and two years before her scheduled release, before she was accepted into the program. When she did, she knew that it had the potential to change her life.
“It has helped me with my people skills,” she said. “It got me out of what was my element and led me to being the type of person I don't think I could have been without the program. That's the beauty of it. It has helped me grow as a person. There is a saying that if you love what you do you won't work a day in your life. That is the perfect saying for my profession.”
She found out that there was an opening at Brennan Stables, which is operated by Niall and Stephanie Brennan, and Stowell immediately threw her hat in the ring.
“To get a job working with horses, that was the goal,” she said. “If it weren't for the Brennans I probably would have struggled a little more with finding a job. The Brennans kind of came out of nowhere. My predecessor here, who was also in the TRF program, she put in her notice. She went out and started her own business. She was leaving so there was an opening at the time of my release. Immediately upon release, I got in a car and the very first place I went was to the Brennans. I interviewed with Niall and Stephanie and they gave me the job.”
While her main job is in client relations, which involves keeping the Brennans' clients up to date on the progress of their horses, she says she is willing to do anything needed of her on the farm.
“I am basically all over the place,” she said. “I go wherever I am needed to go.”
Some 17 months since her release from Lowell she is happy to tell her story. It's about horses, the TRF, the progress that she has made, but also about not giving up and knowing, even at your darkest hour, that there is always a way out.
“It was an honor to get the 'Newcomer Award,'” she said. “I am still in awe. It was a huge blessing. It feels good because it shows others, especially those in the TRF program, that anything is possible. Yes, you may have made a mistake, but you paid for it, you did your time and you can still get out there and do something good and be successful and a thriving part of the community. You still have a whole life ahead of you. If you want something go after it. It is attainable.”
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