A gathering point for Omaha’s creators, innovators, artists, thought leaders and activators.
Millwork Conversations is a happy hour chat between Omaha’s creators, innovators, artists, thought leaders and activators. It’s an opportunity to learn from people across communities right here in Nebraska. We dive into new ideas and what’s possible – how to push past real and imagined boundaries. Each month provides an inspiring, memorable experience for attendees through compelling conversations. Each live conversation is turned into a podcast to go beyond the boundaries of the neighborhood. Check each talk out below!
ANNA LIND THOMAS
Author & Humorist | May 2022
Anna Lind Thomas is a humor writer, book author and popular online personality. Her essay about farting on a date went viral and catapulted her to fame (or infamy). She spends her time writing essays for her site annalindthomas.com and various media outlets.
DREW NEWLIN
Rabble Mill & Nebraska Skate Parks Council | June 2022
From carving around the drain of his grandparents’ laundry room; to honing his first tricks on the hallowed gym floors of the former Salvation Army skatepark; to sketching the initial designs for our very own Millwork Skate Spot; Drew Newlin has seen his passion for skateboarding shape his life, career, and the lens through which he sees the world.
SILVA RAKER
Kiewit Luminarium| July 2022
Silva Raker is the inaugural CEO of Kiewit Luminarium, opening on The RiverFront in April 2023. The Luminarium will be a portal for extraordinary learning experiences that ignite curiosity, upend perceptions, and inspire interest in STEM for people of all ages, backgrounds, and identities. Silva leads a growing team working to joyfully engage the whole community in the ongoing creation of a place to explore the astonishing scientific phenomena that animate our lives and shape our actions.
BORRIS POWELL
Fashion Designer| August 2022
Borris Powell is a Chicago fashion designer who makes a point to live for today and for the moment. Always dreaming about tomorrow’s possibilities, Borris never loses sight of the excitement of every second of today, believing incredible beauty exists in the world if you just pay attention.
ALBERT VARAS
Latino Center of the Midlands | September 2022
Albert has dedicated his life to supporting the advancement of underserved youth and families. For over 20 years, his professional career and service work has focused in the areas of education, nonprofits, business, and public health. In addition to serving the community as the CEO of the Latino Center of the Midlands, Albert has served on several local boards and volunteers his time as an advisor to emerging and established nonprofit organizations.
BUEY TUT
Aqua Africa | October 2022
Buey Tut was born in East Africa on December 3rd, 1986. In addition to the challenges of growing up in East Africa, Buey and his family witnessed the unfortunate political imprisonment of his father. Fortunately, however, his subsequent release due to regime change lead to an opportunity to immigrate to the United States.
Buey and his family arrived in Omaha, NE in 1998. Despite the cultural and linguistic challenges, Buey was able to graduate from high school and attend University of Nebraska at Omaha. Buey’s UNO career includes serving as the captain of his speech and debate team, being elected as senator on the student body then vice president of the student body before finally graduating with a Political Science Degree.
Buey began his professional career as a District Executive at Boy Scout of America Mid America Council. After a promotion to Executive Team Leader, Buey left the Boy Scouts and founded Aqua-Africa with a mission to provide access to clean drinking water in his homeland of South Sudan.
Since its foundation, Aqua-Africa has evolved from providing hand pump wells serving approximately 250 people per well to an innovative solar powered water tower called Village Supplier Utility System (VSUS) that is able to serve from 2,500 up to 10,000 people. Aqua-Africa’s unique Micro Democracy training program has also been awarded a United States Aid Agency (USAID) grant to implement in five counties in South Sudan over the next five years. Buey and his team are currently working on a strategic plan that will help the organization build capacity and scale for the coming years.
MARIN SULLIVAN
Art Historian & Curator | November 2022
In collaboration with KANEKO, we chatted with Executive Director, Stephan Grot and Dr. Marin R. Sullivan, the curator of Richard Hunt: MONUMENTAL at KANEKO, a Chicago-based art historian, curator, consultant, and educator. She specializes in the histories of modern and contemporary sculpture, especially its interdisciplinary, intermedial dialogues with photography, design, and the built environment.
bARBER
Interdisciplinary Artist | December 2022
bARBER uses interdisciplinary art practices to articulate various testimonies within and surrounding Black America. Artist residencies in 2022 Include Allerton Park And Retreat in Monticello, IL, and Fortuna in Mexico City, Mexico. Personal recognitions, aside from collaborations with Propelled Animals, a site adaptive art collective, include 2020 Biennial Artist Research fellowship at Sam Fox Island Press, Washington University, St. Louis, New American Painting issue #150, candidate for the 2022 United States Artist fellow and candidate for 2021 Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Award.
CHARLES KAY JR.
Artist | Feburary 2023
“Charles Kay Jr. is a first-generation Thai-American visual artist exploring assimilation, identity, and the American Dream. His exhibition “Unseen: Emerging from the Currents of Assimilation” is on display at KANEKO through April 21st, 2023.
His parents immigrated from Thailand in 1966 to attend university. Charles was born and raised in Omaha, NE. In 1992 Charles graduated from Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA. He has lived in Los Angeles, Paris, Minneapolis, and New York before moving back to Omaha in 1996. His work has been exhibited at the Denver International Airport, The Center for Fine Art Fort Collins, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, The Anne Reed Gallery, Gilman Contemporary, Clic Gallery, and Nelson Macker Fine Art. Awards include The Hasselblad Award, American Photography Artist Showcase, Pilsner Urquell International Photography Award, Aperture West Book Prize, and Prixe de la Photographie. Charles has been known for his black and white architectural series titled Paris Still Lifes which is included in the Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Centers permanent collection.”
Andy’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, and his portfolio of work includes collaborations with AOL founder Steve Case, Microsoft founder Paul Allen, and former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.
Listen to Podcast – coming soon!
ANDY STOLL
Serial Social Entrepreneur | March 2023
Andy Stoll is a serial social entrepreneur and currently serves as a Senior Program Officer in Entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation, where he manages a $25 million philanthropic portfolio aimed at strengthening America’s entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Born and raised in North Omaha, with family roots in a small Japanese farming community in western Nebraska, Andy traveled throughout the U.S., but never had the opportunity to leave the country. Set on solving that problem, and with the desire to better understand how the world works, Andy set off on what would become a four-year, 40-country, solo trip around the world. Inspired by learnings from his travels, Andy has founded six entrepreneur-focused companies over the past twenty years and is now a leading national voice on how cities can build more vibrant and equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Andy’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, and his portfolio of work includes collaborations with AOL founder Steve Case, Microsoft founder Paul Allen, and former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.
BETH OSTDIEK-SMITH
Saving Grace Entrepreneur | April 2023
Founder, CEO/President of Saving Grace Perishable Food Rescue, Beth Ostdiek Smith is an accomplished professional with over 30 years in leadership roles in for-profit and non-profit businesses; from managing operations of four travel offices to building grassroot nonprofits.
Beth is an articulate communicator and has proven ability to leverage relationships with diverse levels of management, staff, and community leaders. After 20+ years managing four travel offices, she then demonstrated success with her entrepreneur spirit in building two non-profit business that provide valued services to our community. This was done with sound business management, marketing, fundraising, volunteer recruitment, team and relationship building within our business community.
Beth started Saving Grace in 2013, to address wasted food, hunger and the environment, Beth and Saving Grace has received:
- 2013 SCORE “Sam Epstein” Entrepreneur Award
- 2016 The Greater Omaha Chamber “Excellence Award for Innovation”
- 2018 Food Day & 2019 Earth Day, Non-Profit of the Year Awards
- 2019 The FBI’s Director Community Leadership Award by Director Wray where Beth was flown to DC to receive in person.
Saving Grace had rescued and equitably distributed over 7.5 million pounds of excess healthy food. While promoting our Nourishing People and Nurturing our Environment initiative, by Feeding Bellies Rather than our Landfills.
Beth has traveled the world and loves learning about other cultures. She has volunteered as a mentor for inner city kids, assisting those in need and visiting the homebound and elderly through her church. She is a past member of Executive Women International, a Nebraska representative with the US Global Leadership Coalition, a North Omaha Music and Arts (NOMA) Executive Board Member and serves on many advisory boards.
Beth strives to inspire those she meets to use their unique gifts and to acknowledge that we all have a purpose to honor and live.
Social Media: Facebook: @savinggracefoodrescue; Instagram & Twitter @savinggracefood
SHOANNA DORSEY
Nebraska Tech Collective Entrepreneur | May 2023
Shonna Dorsey, PMP is the Executive Director of the Nebraska Tech Collaborative, an Aksarben Workforce Initiative. Shonna is a Nebraska native who holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Management Information Systems from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. In her 20+ year career in information technology, Shonna has served in a variety of roles including startup co-founder, nonprofit vice president, business analyst, and project manager.
Shonna is an active community member who serves on boards dedicated to supporting workforce and community development initiatives. She is a Board Member for the Omaha North High School Foundation and a Trustee for the Business Ethics Alliance.
In 2022, Shonna was selected as the Education Committee Co-Chair for the Nebraska Tech Collaborative. In this role, she and her Co-Chair partner with community leaders focused on tech education to support initiatives related to PK-12 students, college/university students, and career changers to increase the number of candidates in Nebraska’s tech talent pipeline. In 2019, Shonna was nominated for and awarded the Excellence in Community Service Award through the National Daughters of the American Revolution. In 2018, she was selected by Governor Pete Ricketts to join the Nebraska Information Technology Council as a Commissioner and served a 3-year team following her appointment by a legislative panel. In 2016, she was one of five Omahans selected for the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Changemaker award. In 2015, Shonna was nominated for and accepted a Women in Technology Award from InformationWeek, was a recipient of the Omaha Jaycees Ten Outstanding Young Omahans award and was the recipient of the AIM Tech Community Builder of the Year Award. In 2014, Shonna was selected for the Midlands Business Journal 40 Under 40 Award.
As a panelist or sole speaker on opportunities in tech, women in tech, empowerment, and leadership, Shonna enjoys candidly sharing her experiences including successes, failures, and lessons learned to hopefully inspire listeners to reach beyond any self- or otherwise imposed limitations.
JEFFREY COLLINS
Community and Planning Development, Amplify Arts| June 2023
I’m Jeff! I’m an individual with a diverse range of interests and a genuine thirst for knowledge. I’m driven by curiosity and have a deep love for exploring the world.
Originally born in Atlanta, GA, I’ve been visiting my grandparents since ’92 and have been a resident of Omaha since 2001. Most of my time has been spent in North Omaha, attending Druid Hill Elementary and graduating from North High School. Coming from a large extended family that instilled a strong sense of family orientation, I cherish the connections and support that family provides. This upbringing has shown me the significance of strong community ties and drives me to actively engage with local events and initiatives, always seeking opportunities to connect with others and contribute positively to the community fabric.
In the art realm, I like to be involved in the community in any capacity, and I’ve been blessed with opportunities to truly be a part of it. I served as the CTO of Local Art Plug from 2021 to 2022, organizing the “Plugged In” NFT Show at Millworks in 2022. Previously, I had the pleasure of working at the Union for Contemporary Arts as an Art Club member and Teaching Artist. I’ve even been fortunate enough to share my artistic vision, as well as my fellow artists’ visions, in two exhibitions so far: “Breathe” at Modus in 2021 and “Previously” at OuterSpaces in 2018. Currently, I sit on the Board of Amplify Arts.
Professionally, I graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2014, earning a B.A. in Religious Studies. My professional career began as an intern with HUD in 2010, eventually transitioning to a full-time position in CPD in 2014.
Aside from my professional pursuits, I have cultivated a range of hobbies and half-hobbies. Whether it’s “workshopping,” engaging in 3D animation and art, pursuing “urban farming” (just a large-ish garden, really), or indulging in my personal love for film photography, I find ways to express my creativity and connect with the world around me.
I place great value on genuine conversations that lead to mutual learning and growth. I genuinely enjoy attending varied community events, where I have a chance to meet new people, exchange stories, and build meaningful connections. I firmly believe that by embracing diverse perspectives and actively engaging with the community, we can create a more inclusive and thriving environments for all.
MANNE COOK
Creative Entrepeneur | July 2023
Manuel Cook, also known as Manne, is a visionary creative entrepreneur committed to crafting dynamic urban spaces and enhancing the quality of our built environments. With nearly ten years of expertise collaborating with federal, state, local, and grassroots organizations, his refined skill set encompasses city planning, urban design, community development, placemaking, cartography, and real estate development.
Manne specializes in strategically designing and implementing projects and initiatives that leverage a community’s assets, art, history, and culture. By doing so, he fosters the creation of vibrant, people-centric environments that prioritize health, healing and wellbeing.
RICK KNUDSTON
Serial Tech Entrepeneur | August 2023
Rick Knudtson is an Omaha-based serial tech entrepreneur. Currently, he is co-founder and CEO of Workshop, an internal email and communications platform. Previously, he co-founded and helped grow Flywheel (acquired by WP Engine in 2019) to a $100M+ exit. As a UX designer, Rick has a passion for building beautifully simple experiences that customers fall in love with. Outside of work, he spends his time exploring Omaha with his wife, Heather and his daughter, Ella.
LINDA FLEMMING
Sculptor and Visual Artist | September 2023
Linda Fleming creates places that are as much air as material: places of shadows and light where the viewer can sometimes become a participant by entering the sculpture. The intangibility of flowing gaseous materials, the shape that a sound might take, or a diagram of the wind are starting points made manifest in these constructions. They are molecular and galactic and attempt to coax the intangible into sturdy structures and durable materials that will not easily disintegrate as much of the work of women has throughout history. Physical sensation and perception are interdependent… the thing that is seen and the thing that is seeing conjure our world.
Experimenta de Vacuo Spatio brings together sculptures, drawings, and wall sculptures that embody 56 years of Fleming’s thinking. Beginning with her first wall sculpture built in 1967 and exhibited at Park Place Gallery in New York, she incorporates multiple parts that create a whole. These discrete components evoke the particles comprising all matter and have been a constant thread in her work whether they are dense as they were in the 1990’s or openwork as they are now. Fleming constantly questions a monolithic reading of reality and strives to evoke the presence of the many and the one.
Fleming’s current work can simultaneously be seen from the outside as an object, from the inside as an interior architecture, and seen through to the world surrounding it. Some have two layers of color that also transform as your position changes, allowing the colors to mix in the mind’s eye and become a hue that is not physically there. Glimpses of the environment seen through the openwork forms also become a part of the transforming whole. Her works are devices for seeing.
Fleming’s practice draws from the desert and mountain environments surrounding her Colorado, Nevada, and California studios. She has received grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Art Matters, the Peter S. Reed Foundation, and the Athena Foundation. Her work has also been reviewed in numerous periodicals, including Art in America, Sculpture magazine, and The New York Times. Fleming’s works are exhibited in major art museums and in public and private collections throughout the world.
See the opening of Linda Fleming’s Experimenta De Vacuo Spatio exhibition at KANEKO Soirée on Friday, September 29. Fleming is one of five artists displaying their pieces at the Gene Leahy Mall Sculpture Garden. Her KANEKO exhibition will showcase her early and new works, exploring the themes of place, structures, and matter. It’s an exciting opportunity to witness the juxtaposition of her creative journey.
KANEKO Exhibition Fall —Winter 2023-24
Linda Fleming: Experimenta De Vacuo Spatio
September 29, 2023, to February 2, 2024
Special Programming & Event announcements to follow.
DAN HARBEKE & ALLIE HOPKINS
Google Midwest | December 2023
Dan Harbeke serves as the Government Affairs and Public Policy Manager for Google in the Midwest.
Active in the community, he has served on the Young Professionals Council board of directors through the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, is a past chairman of the Utah Foundation board of trustees and a past president of the board of directors for Keep Texas Beautiful, and has served on the board of directors for Junior Achievement of Utah and the Natural History Museum of Utah. Mr. Harbeke holds a degree in Marketing and Political Science from Creighton University, where he presently serves on the National Alumni Board, and is the proud dad of two beautiful girls, Elle and Emme.
Allie Hopkins, is excited to be joining us, as well. With over 15 years of successful self-driven initiatives within the technical infrastructure leading teams with up to 30 staff members, Allie is a the Global Server Operations Area Lead at Google.
In her day-to-day, Allie oversees the application development and project management in a wide variety of network based applications. Lived in the layer between the physical network and the end user applications long enough to know that everything from the mouse to the data center is pertinent.
Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
KAREN BORCHERT
Founder and CEO of Alpaca | January 2024
Karen Borchert is the founder and CEO of Alpaca. As a public school parent and entrepreneur, Karen wanted a solution to support and invest in teachers that was simple and high impact. Her idea was a simple platform to help parents subscribe to their school. Her background as COO of Flywheel, ROKA, and other technology companies helped her build a platform and a pilot at a few local schools, and Alpaca began. Alpaca now supports 3,000+ teachers each month with packs of supplies and appreciation supported by parents, companies, and nonprofit orgs. The unique model is expanding to school districts across the country in the coming year.