By age 6, Gay Gaddis

knew how to work a field of cattle. Growing up in a small town just outside of Houston, she spent much time on her godfather’s farm in Liberty, Texas. “I don’t know what it’s like to not be on the land,” she says. After majoring in art in college and brief stints in copy writing and public relations, Gaddis turned to advertising. In 1989, at 32 and with three young kids, Gaddis cashed in her $16,000 IRA and put all her money into starting an ad agency. The big break for T3, her Austin-based firm, came in 1992, when she took on a new client, Dell, which soon became one of the first companies to sell its wares online. “Nobody knew anything about selling online,” says Gaddis. “We had to learn it together.” Fortune 100 companies came calling. A few years later, Gaddis and her husband bought the 900acre property that’s now Double Heart Ranch; now she splits her time between the ranch and Austin. “Ranching and farming—it’s not a big money-maker anymore,” she admits. The property breaks even (or turns a small profit) thanks to hay and livestock sales. “This isn’t a city boy’s weekend playground,” she says. “It’s a real doggone working ranch.”