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Barbara Zach

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Barbara Zach didn’t grow up in a music-saturated house.

Her parents didn’t have a favorite band or music genre that they played for her and her five siblings, and they also didn’t own a TV.

It’s not that her parents were opposed to music or entertainment, it just wasn’t something that was ever emphasized.

But the Zach house wasn’t quiet either, Barbara said. There were six kids running around at any given time and as they got older the noise only intensified.

Music filtered into the house via piano lessons and a Christian rock band that her four brothers started. It was loud and a little chaotic.

So, just how did Barbara end up as the Executive Director of Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra? Now, that’s a good story.

Barbara said a future in music was never on her radar as a child. Sure, she was in choir during high school, but a career in music? No way.

She was a highly focused and driven child, which led her to be a math major when she attended UNL. She loved the precise nature of all things math-related – it just made sense to her. While in school, she auditioned for the choir as another way to get involved. Barbara said she was surprised at how much she loved the experience and enjoyed being part of a musical group.

It was during her choir experience that she heard a song that dramatically altered her trajectory – Bach’s St. John Passion. Her choir practiced and performed the 18th century piece and Barbara remembers being overwhelmed by the emotion behind the composition. It was a feeling that she’d never experienced, and one she didn’t want to ever lose.

She became a Bach addict, letting her math-geared brain obsess over the musical perfection of his work and getting lost in the beauty and intricacy of each of his compositions.

Up until this point, Barbara was convinced she’d graduate and work as a high-level math teacher. She was a calculus TA, but decided to also join the School of Music and double major in math and piano performance.

Shortly after graduating, a job at the Lincoln symphony opened up and she jumped at the chance to be a part of something music-related. The actual position was basically three jobs rolled into one, and for a high-achieving and focused person like Barbara, it was the perfect fit.

After being in a secluded piano practice room for the past few years of college, she was suddenly flung into the music community. She loved the way 70 unique musicians could come together and create music that highlighted their collective skills, merging their individual talents into something that was greater than any one musician.

A few years later the executive director position at the symphony opened up, and Barbara was ready to take on a new challenge. It’s a role that involves a great knowledge of music, but also a lot of community interaction.

Some days are filled with meetings and community collaboration, others are more logistical in nature, but no two days of work are the same. The days are full and the hours are long, but Barbara said she loves it all. She loves how music is such a big part of her life, how she gets the privilege of intimately knowing the Lincoln music community and that she can see the work of the musicians and donors come together in a way that celebrates and impacts the city.

But it’s not a job without stress, and while she shuts off her work email when she leaves the office, she can’t shut down her brain. She’ll wake up in the middle of the night thinking about an upcoming event or trying to solve a work-related problem, because running a nonprofit takes a certain amount of personal investment.

After being in this role for the past 12 years, Barbara has learned a thing or two about herself and her work.

She’s learned the importance of rest, how to take her job seriously, but also take time to recharge.

She’s come to understand the power of music, the way it can unify a community and a city.

And she’s started to understand how her own story plays into all of her work. Sure, she didn’t grow up with music, but she thinks maybe that’s why it is so special to her.

She came to music on her own, with no preconceived notions about what was ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ She found what she loved, what made her think and feel and she went after it.

She still thinks about that moment when she heard Bach’s St. John Passion for the first time and her whole world opened up. There’s something about that moment that Barbara said she carries with her now and always will.

Her story is about finding herself through music. It wasn’t where she expected to find her story, or where she thought she’d be investing in her community, but that element of surprise has made it all the more special.

Kat Scholl

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Things have finally started to make sense for Kat Scholl.

Now, that doesn’t mean her life is perfect or that she has everything completely mapped out, but for the first time in a long time, she’s starting to understand her own journey.

During the day, Kat is a public information specialist at Lincoln Parks & Recreation. On the side, she and her husband raise bees. It may sound like the two jobs work together in perfect harmony, but that’s not always the way Kat has felt about her work life.

After growing up in a farmhouse in Seward, Nebraska, Kat went to Concordia University to get her degree in studio art. She’d always been creative and her parents encouraged this talent.

Kat grew up watching Bob Ross’s “The Joy of Painting” with her grandmother. Her parents gave her blank sheets of paper instead of defined coloring books to spur on her creativity, so pursuing an art degree seemed natural.

And yet, Kat felt like she needed a backup plan. Not only was art somewhat of a loose career path, but she is also blind in one eye. Kat feared losing her sight entirely, so she also got a massage therapy degree as a fallback career.

Kat said she struggled through college, wrestling with her beliefs, schoolwork and a lack of confidence in her own abilities. After she graduated, she job hopped for about 15 years, going from one position to the next. She felt unsettled and nothing felt like the ‘right’ job. It was during this time that she met her husband, Dustin.

The couple met online after Kat swore off the chaotic bar scene and Dustin was too shy to even consider meeting someone at a bar. Dustin sent the introductory message, Kat responded and the rest is history.

But shortly after they met, Dustin had a random idea.

“Hey, what if we took this beekeeper class?” he asked Kat one night, pointing to a list of classes offered at Southeast Community College.

“Are you serious? You’ve never mentioned anything about bees before…”

Dustin went on to explain how he’d always been interested in beekeeping and he’d hoped to someday make it his “old man” hobby.

“That’s cute,” Kat said with a laugh, and she moved on.

But Dustin kept at it. Leaving the class description in strategic places and dropping in a fact here or there about beekeeping, until Kat agreed to attend the first class.

Much like their dating experience, after one class, they were hooked. A year later they were harvesting their first batch of honey and planning their future honey business.

This was back in 2011, now, Kat and Dustin are the proud owners of K&D Honey Bees. This year they harvested nearly 400 pounds of honey and produced products like lip balm, lotion bars and hand cream with the beeswax.

Working as weekend beekeepers was a fun hobby, but Kat started to realize she loved it because of her family roots. She’d grown up in a family where stewardship of the land was important, and so had Dustin. Their families were both involved in efforts to care for the environment and educate others about habitat conservation.

In turn, much of Kat and Dustin’s bee work has a heavy educational emphasis. They invite customers out to watch them harvest honey, teach people what plants are helpful for bees and educate others on what role bees play in the environment.

This natural shift in thinking about her hobby also translated to her work life. Kat started doing some part-time work at Lincoln Parks & Recreation and eventually was offered a full-time position. Now her days are spent in area parks taking photos for their website and social media pages and helping people understand the role of the Department in the community.

She and Dustin have a few dozen hives out at her family farm in Seward. They dream about one day buying the house she grew up in, raising their kids in the country and maybe trying to make the bee thing a full-time gig, but for now, Kat’s thankful for where her story is at.

Her hobby and day job go hand-in-hand, and she’s excited about what’s next. She’s found a hobby, a way to help others and confidence in her work for the first time in a long time.

Jill Liliedahl

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Jill Liliedahl is a self-professed crazy dog lady. We’re talking the, she and her husband made a Facebook for their dog caliber of crazy dog lady.

Which is why it makes perfect sense that she’s the CEO of SitStay – an online marketplace for dog supplies.

But working at SitStay wasn’t part of Jill’s plan, mostly, because a lot of her story is about changing plans, trying new things and finding her place.

In college, Jill was a political science major who didn’t want to go into politics. She went down the social work track and then on to earn a graduate degree in sociology. She’s lived on the east coast, dove in to the nonprofit world and moved back to Lincoln. She took a job that exposed her to the startup scene and then ended up launching a premium popsicle business. Now, she’s at SitStay.

These are just the highlights, but you get the idea – Jill has had a lot of jobs.

It’s not because she’s flakey or indecisive, actually it’s the exact opposite – Jill is crazy smart. She has a high capacity for learning and trying new things, but this has also been a challenge for her. She’s interested in so many things, that picking one seemed incredibly difficult.

But more than her litany of jobs, what’s held Jill’s story together is her family and her community.

Jill grew up in Hastings, Nebraska, a town less than two hours west of Lincoln. As a kid, she watched her mom open her own fabric store. Jill thought the shop was just another cool place to hang out, but as she got older, she realized that not everyone gets to watch their mom start something.

Sure, it wasn’t some techy, hard-hitting business, but it was her mom’s way of meeting a need in their community and Jill was proud of that.

So, when Jill started her speciality popsicle business her mom and dad jumped right in. Their phrase was, “Let us know what you need!” and they meant it.

Sure, it may have been just popsicles, but that didn’t keep them from spending every summer Saturday at the Farmer’s Market with Jill. Her family became her go-to taste testers, sales team and chief marketing officers – they knew the startup world because they’d been there.

And while Jill loved what she did, and her family understood, she realized that running a business – whether it’s popsicles or dog supplies – can be isolating. Her schedule, interests and frustrations felt unique, and yet she wondered if there were more people out there with similar struggles. It was hard because Jill felt like she’d found her place, she was building a company and using her wide range of skills, but something was missing.

Jill shared this with her friend, Amber Pankonin, and in 2013 they started a group called Ladies Launch Lincoln as a way to connect with female entrepreneurs. They were shocked at the number of women (and men) who showed up to talk shop, get advice and share their latest ideas.

The group became Jill’s safe place. It was where she received tangible advice, but also where she saw her story more clearly.

She realized that a roundabout academic and job history was pretty common in the startup world, and it didn’t matter that she was a former poli-sci major or wasn’t necessarily putting her Master’s degree to work every day.

Perfect planning, while tidy and helpful, hasn’t propelled Jill. Instead, it’s been the love and support of her family and an amazing community.

Jill’s story can be confusing because of her long list of loosely connected jobs, but it’s also extremely simple. It’s about pursuing what she loves, being content in the unknown and pushing forward, knowing full well that sometimes no plan is the best plan.

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