Tina has been competing for years and still deals with people not taking her seriously when she shows up to barbecue. "I've had little local newspapers walk up at a contest and start talking to [my husband], and he doesn't know a lot of that stuff," she told POPSUGAR. "He'll say, 'Let me get my wife for you,' and they literally have walked away. Turned around and walked away."
She added, "Barbecue is a social thing, even in a contest," and said that men would walk right by her, not acknowledging her or her food. "And it feels kind of weird. You're there working hard." Some contests are in tight quarters, so her station would be set up right next to someone else's, but too often, she'd be ignored. "They'll be right next to you and not even make eye contact. It was crazy."
Once she started winning, she was taken more seriously, though. "I've got my crowd that know me, and they hang out and talk to me. But there's always the good ol' boy network, and it'll always be that way I guess down here in the South."