The work rarely makes headlines.

It happens in boardrooms, in training sessions, in conversations about budgets, compliance and staffing. It happens behind the scenes, before a nonprofit launches a program, before a grant is written, before services reach the people who need them.

Anne Hindery has built her career in that space.

There is a mix of anticipation and uncertainty, the kind that comes with starting over or starting fresh.

Carmen Tapio has built her work around that moment.

As the founder and owner of North End Teleservices (NET), Tapio leads one of Omaha’s largest minority-owned businesses, a company that provides contact center and business process outsourcing services to national clients.

I still become a giddy schoolgirl when I see my byline in print. I’ve been addicted to that feeling since I was 18, when I saw my first story in the Omaha World-Herald. These days, that feeling has evolved and multiplied. Because now, it’s not just mine. It’s ours.

On election night in 1986, the outcome in Nebraska signaled more than a shift in political leadership. It marked a national first in American politics. 

Kay A. Orr had been elected governor of Nebraska, becoming the first Republican woman ever elected governor in the United States.

When Brigitte McQueen arrived in Omaha in 2006, North Omaha was not widely recognized as a contemporary arts destination. Within five years, she would help change that.

Before she became one of Hollywood’s most respected actresses, Hilary Swank’s story began far from red carpets and film premieres. Born July 30, 1974, in Lincoln, Nebraska, Swank spent much of her childhood growing up in Bellingham, Washington, where her family lived in a trailer park.

Bright colors. Letter blocks. Small charms shaped like hearts, suns and smiley faces. Around it, a group of teens sits shoulder to shoulder, heads down, hands moving, quietly creating something of their own.

At the center of it is Alejandra Wells, not standing apart, but sitting with them.

We’re excited to officially welcome HR-Minded Consulting Services to Lozafina. Since the beginning of this year, we’ve had the opportunity to partner with their team to develop and produce their newsletter, shaping content that reflects their expertise, speaks directly to their audience, and shows up consistently with clarity and intention. What started as a single touchpoint has quickly become a powerful extension of their brand.

Long before her name became tied to one of Omaha’s most well-known institutions, Mary Lucretia Creighton was simply known as someone who helped her neighbors. 

Born Mary Lucretia Wareham on February 3, 1834, in Dayton, Ohio, she married businessman and pioneer Edward Creighton in 1856.

For Maggi Thorne, resilience isn’t just a message she shares with audiences. It’s the thread that runs through nearly every chapter of her life. 

Growing up in San Diego, Thorne had a childhood shaped by financial hardship and instability at home.

There are rooms you walk into knowing the conversation matters. And then there are rooms that confirm it the moment you begin.

At this year’s Ethicspace 2026, hosted by the Business Ethics Alliance, I had the opportunity to lead a workshop titled: “The Audience You Want to Reach, and the One(s) You Don’t.”

Today, many of the protections and social programs that support children and families across the United States feel like a normal part of public life. But a century ago, many of those systems did not yet exist. 

One of the people who helped change that was Grace Abbott. 

Today, thousands of visitors walk through the doors of the Joslyn Art Museum, one of Omaha’s most important cultural institutions. But behind the museum’s creation was a woman whose generosity and vision helped shape the city and the community around her. 

Sarah Joslyn believed that art and culture should belong to everyone.

 Anna Wilson built her fortune in Omaha’s Sporting District, then quietly redirected it toward the city’s most vulnerable. By the 1870s, Wilson was living on Douglas Street, first listed in the federal census as “keeping house,” though she was working in gambling houses connected to her partner, Dan Allen, a well-known gambler and saloon keeper.

Born May 11, 1896, near Hay Springs, Nebraska, Sandoz grew up in a homesteading family on the plains. Her father, Jules Ami Sandoz, was a Swiss immigrant whose life and influence would later become the subject of one of her most well-known works.

The door opened to the sound of music already playing.

Inside, the records were stacked wall to wall — soul, jazz, blues, gospel — each one part of a larger story. Customers didn’t just come to buy music. They came to listen, to talk, to stay awhile.

Leola McDonald was behind the counter.

On May 20, 2015, Kerrie Orozco went to work knowing her life was about to change. Her daughter, born three months early, was finally coming home from the hospital. Orozco had delayed her maternity leave until that moment, planning to begin it the next day. 

In 1889, inside Omaha’s Grand Opera House, Comfort Baker stood before a crowd of graduates and delivered an original essay titled “One More Plea for the Negro.” The applause, according to reports, came in waves.

When Megan Hunt was elected to the Nebraska Legislature in 2018, she did more than win a seat. She made history.

Born May 9, 1986, Hunt became the first openly LGBTQ person elected to the Nebraska Legislature and the first woman to represent District 8, which includes Omaha neighborhoods such as Dundee, Benson and Keystone.

When Magdalena Garcia was 9 years old, she moved from Mexico City to Omaha, carrying with her a deep love of art shaped by her grandmother and aunt. Every summer, she returned to Mexico City, where museums, ballet and opera were part of everyday life.