Meet Kirsten Michael, the Visitor Engagement Manager for the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, a fantastic complex of five museums in Cody, Wyoming. This remarkable woman climbed from intern, to part-time and finally her current full-time position, the first of its kind at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
In 2017, Kirsten accepted a summer internship at the Cody Firearms Museum (CFM), one of the museums within the Center of the West. She writes that she thought she knew about firearms and museums beforehand, but that she learned many new things during those 10 weeks.
“Turns out, I was humbled very quickly when I arrived and viewed the 7,000 guns in the Cody Firearms Museum. From ancient hand cannons to modern 3D printed guns … I learned so much about firearms technology, history and culture. That summer job changed me. I knew I wanted to make sharing firearms history with the public a part of my career.”
Kirsten developed her love for history as a child, which led to her pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in History, as well as three minors: Business Management, Sociology and Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration. After completing her CFM internship and finishing her Master’s of Arts in Museum Studies in 2017, Kirsten returned to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in 2020 to work as a part-time admissions clerk and contract Educational Programmer Coordinator, eventually transitioning to full time.
Throughout each of her roles at the CFM, educating visitors has been constant. As Visitor Engagement Manager, Kirsten founded the Firearms Exclusive Tours program, where she and her staff create customized educational programs for CFM visitors. Through this program, Kirsten travels around the world to learn more about her passion and share it with others. She recently returned from Liege, Belgium, where the Center of the West is partnering with La Boverie museum on an exhibit. The Center of the West is loaning about 30 artifacts to La Boverie, including 12 firearms, and Kirsten played an essential role in bringing the exhibit to life. Read on for this wonderful woman’s answers to our six Gal Gab questions.
Describe a typical day in your work life:
The Visitor Engagement Manager oversees and optimizes the visitor experience at the frontlines of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. I manage a team of visitor services professionals who promote and deliver admissions processes as well as Exclusive Tours interpretive programs to the tens of thousands of visitors the Center receives every year. A typical day for me usually involves a lot of interpersonal communications, problem solving, creative thinking and passionate storytelling. I founded the Exclusive Tours program in the Cody Firearms Museum wing of the Center’s complex back in 2020 and grew the program to include all five museums plus several off-site community partners. Depending on the time of year, I might be sitting in front of a computer for hours working on budgets and administrative tasks, or I might be leading dozens of customized tours. Sometimes, I’m designing a new program on things like firearms in popular culture and other times I’m helping install an exhibit on the guns of Buffalo Bill and his Wild West performers and handling Annie Oakley’s own revolver. My job gives me the flexibility to work in the office when I need to or be out on the floor and talking to people from around the world about firearms history and their modern roles in society.
#1 piece of advice you would give other females who want to break into the industry?
I have several handwritten notes tacked to the wall in my office. They’ve migrated from one office to another over the last five years, and they represent lessons, truths, mistakes, and moments in my professional life that made me who I am today. For the sake of brevity, I’ll focus on what I consider the number one piece of advice shared with me: Take a breath, ask for help, and remember that God is bigger than all of this. There will be lovers and haters and people who do not care one bit about you and your dreams or goals. There will be stumbling blocks. I can’t even begin to count how many tears or angry thoughts I’ve shed over things I thought were the end-all-be-all: job offers I didn’t get, projects that didn’t pan out, frustrating colleagues and visitors and random instances of crappy-no-good-very-bad luck. What I thought were lost opportunities or painful rejections became moments in my life where I learned more about myself and my role in this world than ever before. So, when the men ask “How did a girl like you get to know so much about firearms?” or the women shriek about how we glorify violence by using firearms, take a breath, ask for help and remember that God is bigger than all of this.
What motivates you?
As the Pocahontas song from the 1995 Disney movie says, I want to know what’s around the riverbend. Not knowing where the path you’re on leads can terrify people, but I‘ve learned to love it. Being the Center of the West’s Visitor Engagement Manager was never my plan; I never wanted to be an educator or to work with the public. But somehow the twists and turns of life brought me along a pathway that perfectly prepared me for what I do today. With thousands of people coming through the doors of the Center of the West, I never know what kind of conversations I’ll have or what questions I’ll answer that day. Mistakes or failures can be something good; they can lead us to what we don’t expect. After all, adventures start where your plans end.
Most unexpected thing you’ve learned, while working in this industry?
Just because you’re not out there doing big, flashy, world-saving things, doesn’t mean what you’re doing isn’t important. The world can change with just one person, which means every person is important and everyone has a story. My job is to answer questions, inspire engagement and help people build their stories.
Favorite product in the outdoor or shooting market right now?
I love my Winchester Wildcat rifles with my SilencerCo Sparrow .22 can. These are not the flashiest or the newest firearms products, but they are my go-to tools when I want to have some plinking fun or introduce new shooters to firearms. Working in the museum field means a lot of my peers are not familiar with firearms; handing new shooters an unsuppressed AR or 9mm pistol isn’t the best way to introduce them to the sport. So, I bring out my .22s and build foundational techniques and knowledge with less intimidating, but still fun firearms.
Let’s have some fun … what weapon would you use to battle a giant?
Black Ice. Not only is black ice insidious because people don’t expect it, but they also usually can’t see it if they do expect it, and falls on black ice lead to broken bones, concussions, etc., almost every time it’s encountered. Giants are big and heavy, meaning they rely on stability to move effectively. (The answer to this question probably has nothing whatsoever to do with the 14 inches of snow Cody WY just got or the -17 degree weather we’re dealing with right now [at the time of writing].)
Visit Kirsten Michael on LinkedIn, and visit the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and Cody Firearms Museum at their websites.
Madeleine Golob, formerly “Anna,” is our intern at the “Women’s Outdoor News,” and manages the “Gal Gab” column. She also pens features and takes care of our Pinterest activities. Madeleine is a high school student who loves to write, read, study her family’s genealogy and play any musical instrument she can get her hands on. She also enjoys working Action Pistol matches while her parents compete and dreams of becoming a historian and writer. View all posts by Madeleine Golob
