Modern Day Cowboy

Romance and Resilience in the West  

Lander, Wyoming

 Written by Mandy Fabel

Photography contributed by Tobey Manganiello

“I think I have always been a person who feels certain about what I want. And then I just try to put in the hard work and have the patience to get there…

Tobey Manganiello of Lander, Wyoming may not put on cowboy boots to go to work each day, but her life is a modern-day tale of the cowboy legacy:

To be tough, but have a gentle spirit.
To be a dreamer, whose optimism is only outpaced by work ethic. 
To be independent and self-reliant, yet always willing to lend a hand to others. 

The West was settled on the romance and resilience of the cowboy, and Tobey is no different in her pursuits today. She is as comfortable rock climbing on the side of a limestone cliff as she is behind her industrial leather sewing machine. She is shy in a crowd of strangers, yet has a limitless capacity for deep connection and shared experiences. And just like all good cowboys, Tobey does it with grace and ease.

Tobey Schmidt’s childhood was spent in Indiana alongside her three siblings and a very large midwestern family. While nearly all her siblings and cousins opted to stay close, she ventured to Tucson, Arizona for school and majored in journalism. She became a hiking, boating, and climbing guide and continued to pursue her passion of photography. One summer she had the opportunity to intern for a climbing magazine, Rock and Ice. During this internship she came to a small, obscure Wyoming town to photograph some of the world’s best climbers. Lander became a place Tobey loved and thought of as “the kind of place I want to live someday.”

Fast forward a few years and Tobey graduated from college one semester early. She spent those unclaimed months as a hiking guide in Alaska. She returned to Arizona to look for a job and, before long, an opening for a writing and photography position caught her eye. While the job fit her skillset, it was the familiar location, Lander, Wyoming, that grabbed her attention. Tobey applied, was offered the job, and arrived in Lander in June of 2020.

For the first time in her life, Tobey’s unbridled enthusiasm was met with unbridled opportunity. She excelled at her job. She met a boy next door. She climbed 5.12. She went hunting with a few friends and soon bought her own rifle. She rebuilt a chicken coop she found on Facebook marketplace and began raising chickens. She couldn’t afford a designer leather bag she wanted, so she called upon the sewing skills passed down from her grandmother and made her own. Then she started making bags for others and founded Wyo Bag Co. She joined the board of the local farmer’s market. She shot her first antelope and then her first elk.

Each of these hobbies and activities take effort, focus, and a lot of time to master. And yet Tobey endeavored gracefully through these growth trajectories and impressive milestones. Somehow, she even managed to have time to babysit her friend’s kids and trade her photography skills for things like a gym membership and fresh croissants.

Back to that boy Tobey met next door. In September of 2023, Tobey and Charlie Manganiello were married under the big western skies of Wyoming. The 200 guests in attendance got a glimpse into a landscape that fit Tobey just as beautifully as the vintage dress she wore.

The wedding events were a masterclass in a stylish DIY wedding on a budget. Those words do not fit together easily or often. Tobey and Charlie’s wedding took a significant amount of vision and planning, and an even larger dose of hard work. Here are just a few of the details they dreamed up and pulled off:

A backyard venue sourced through friends, which meant every square foot of the ranch property had to be cleaned, mowed, and prepared for guests. This included recruiting friends and family to set up everything from tents, tables, and chairs to a homemade photobooth and casual furniture borrowed from local friends and businesses. Horses visible on the horizon and donkeys and cats roaming the occasion made it feel just right.

After realizing the costs to rent and return lackluster dishware, Tobey opted to shop thrift stores to find something “a little more her style.” Never spending more than 50 cents on any single item, she bought salad and dinner plates for everyone and enough glasses for guests to enjoy water, wine, and specialty cocktails. All told, this included some 400 plates and 500 glasses.

The reception meal was a culmination of Tobey and Charlie’s love of local food and passion for hunting. After harvesting two elk the prior fall (one each), they made 200 elk steaks in preparation for the wedding. Guest’s plates were adorned with local greens from Second Street Farms, sourdough bread from Lander Bread Share, and butter Tobey made herself from fresh cow’s milk. The night ended with raucous dancing as a pastel Wyoming sunset gave way to a dark and clear night.

As Tobey reflects on the best day of her life, she is quick to admit the lion’s share of work that went into pulling off the wedding of her dreams.

“Leading up to the wedding was actually super stressful. We had our hands in so many details,” Tobey said, “One thing I will never say to a future bride is, ‘Don’t worry it will all come together.’ The only reason it was coming together was because we were working so hard and had enlisted so many people to help.”

As Tobey and Charlie’s tight-knit families were leaving after the festivities, nearly all of them made the same comment, “We finally understand why you live in Lander, Wyoming. This place is perfect for you.”

Tobey and Charlie certainly plan to stick around as they just purchased and are slowly beginning to restore an 1887 home situated just two blocks off Lander Main Street. Yet another dream realized from setting goals, making sacrifices, and seizing every stroke of good luck along the way.

Already the hand-me-down chicken coop has been reassembled for the third time, and Tobey and Charlie are dreaming up plans for the extensive garden beds. They look forward to next fall when hopefully the root cellar is filled with canned vegetables and the chest freezer is packed with wild game. Future home projects will have to fit in between two full-time jobs, outdoor hobbies, and a growing leatherwork business in Wyo Bag Co. But then again, Tobey has a knack for making hard things look easy.

“I think I have always been a person who feels certain about what I want. And then I just try to put in the hard work and have the patience to get there,” Tobey explained.

While her leatherwork skills go into making handbags and purses instead of saddles, it is clear the cowboy spirit resides in Tobey Manganiello.

She concluded, “Living in the West requires a combination of self-reliance and interdependence that I have come to love. Your neighbors and friends become your family because you all need each other. Everyone here develops skills to take care of themselves, but then freely shares those skills and resources with others. I think it’s how we are meant to live.”