Some entrepreneurs build businesses. Others build opportunities for entire communities. Esther Mejia has spent her career proving that the two can go hand in hand.

As president and CEO of E Creative, an award-winning branding and communications agency she founded in 2011, Mejia has spent 30 years helping organizations find their voice. But her greatest impact extends beyond logos, marketing campaigns, and corporate boardrooms, and in the belief that creativity should serve a greater purpose.

Some of the most important work in a community happens quietly.

It happens in meetings, on boards and commissions, and in the conversations where someone has to make sure the people affected by a decision are also represented in the room. For Jaime Suárez Delgado, that work has become part of a larger commitment to service, heritage and opportunity in Nebraska.

Suárez Delgado is an Omaha entrepreneur, civic leader and son of immigrant parents who came to the city in pursuit of the American dream. His official biography with the Nebraska Commission on Latino-Americans describes an upbringing shaped by diligence, service and faith, values that have continued to guide his involvement in the community.

For Yanira Garcia, public transportation is personal.

Long before she had a seat at the table helping shape Omaha’s transit system, Garcia was a young person relying on that system to get where she needed to go.

Garcia grew up in South Omaha’s Upland Park neighborhood and used public transportation throughout her years at Omaha South High School and periodically while attending the University of Nebraska at Omaha. That experience, which she shared in her biography during her campaign for the Regional Metropolitan Transit Authority Board, gave her firsthand knowledge of what reliable and accessible transportation can mean for a community.

For Roy Rivera Barcenas, public service has taken many forms. It has meant connecting families with resources, building relationships between community members and government, volunteering his time, and making sure Nebraska’s Latino community has a voice in the spaces where decisions are made.

Born and raised in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Rivera Barcenas came to the United States at age 24 as a first-generation immigrant. He eventually made Lincoln, Nebraska, his home and began building deep connections within the city’s Hispanic and Latino community.

His path toward public service took shape through his work as a Crisis Assistance and Prevention Coordinator with El Centro de las Américas, where he advocated for Hispanic and Latino families and helped connect them with resources. That experience helped turn community involvement into a lasting commitment to service.

Some musicians learn the blues. Hector Anchondo has lived enough life to understand them.

His journey has included years on the road, career pivots, financial uncertainty, and the persistence required to build a life around music. Along the way, the Nebraska musician has developed a sound shaped by blues, rock, country, and his own cultural roots.

Anchondo picked up his first guitar at 16 and never looked back. Music became a devotion, one that would eventually take him from playing small venues to earning recognition on the international blues stage.

Some of the most important community work happens behind the scenes. For Silvia Velez, that work has meant more than 15 years of helping build the structure that allows the Latino Center of the Midlands to serve Omaha families, students, and the broader Latino community.

Velez joined the Latino Center of the Midlands in January 2010 and today serves as its Chief Operating Officer. Over the years, she has taken on increasingly senior operational roles, including Administrative Service Coordinator and Director of Operations before becoming COO. In her current role, she oversees the organization’s day-to-day administrative and operational functions, helping keep its programs and services running effectively. 

Ten years in business is no small thing, and RTG Building Services has plenty to show for it.

What started as a growing building-services company has become a trusted partner on some of the region’s most significant projects, including two data centers with JE Dunn and Project Beacon, and the construction of Mutual of Omaha’s new headquarters.

RTG Building Services’ growth has come with bigger projects, more complex job sites, and higher expectations, but the company’s approach has stayed remarkably consistent: communicate clearly, take safety seriously, and do the work right.

History doesn’t sit still at the Great Plains Black History Museum.

This month, the museum opened The History of the Buffalo Soldiers, an exhibit exploring the African American soldiers who served in the U.S. Army following the Civil War. Established in 1866, the all-Black regiments served primarily on the Western frontier and became an important part of American military history.

And there’s more coming.

When strategy, consistency, and strong messaging come together, people notice.

That’s exactly what Lozafina has been helping build for our client LuminaNorth Group and founder Avil Jackson over the past quarter.

Through a focused content strategy, thought-leadership messaging, and consistent visibility across channels, Lozafina has worked with LuminaNorth to strengthen Avil’s voice around organizational change, leadership, and the human side of transformation. The goal has not been to post for the sake of posting, but to position Avil and LuminaNorth in a way that feels clear, credible, and worth paying attention to.

If you haven’t been following the artificial intelligence news lately, I don’t blame you.

Sam Altman has another product. Elon Musk is fighting with somebody. Claude is doing something terrifyingly impressive. OpenAI has another model. Governments are holding hearings. Tech executives are talking about safety while simultaneously racing to build more powerful technology.

Oh, and now there’s a $500-a-month version of ChatGPT.

Totally normal stuff.

Except it isn’t.

Proven Ventures had a very good week.

Silicon Prairie News recently featured the Omaha-based fund and its push to deploy the remaining $1 million from its $10 million Fund One into Nebraska companies ready to grow. Proven is looking primarily at revenue-generating businesses with scalable models, with typical investments ranging from $250,000 to $500,000. Its debt-equity model is designed to give founders more flexibility while creating a path for them to buy back Proven’s ownership as their companies grow.

Posting because “we should probably post something today” is not a strategy.

Neither is throwing a random Reel into the algorithm and hoping the internet gods smile upon you.

This November, Lozafina Founder Josefina Loza is teaching Social Media Marketing That Works through MCC Business Development.

It’s a three-part class for business owners, marketing pros, nonprofit teams, and aspiring entrepreneurs who are ready to make social media actually support their goals.

We’ll dig into strategy, content that people might actually stop scrolling for, platform best practices, and how to tell whether any of this is working in the first place.

For Juan Padilla, economic opportunity begins with something many families and small business owners need but do not always have: access to fair, affordable financial services.

While debriefing with Eric Gautschi over the 2026 Hustle Conference excitement, we concluded: “Everyone who didn’t come this year missed out big time on Chris Barton and Liquid Death guys.” They were such a force.

Chris Barton, founder and original CEO of Shazam, message about starting from zero, challenging conventional thinking, and refusing to give up was easily one of the most inspiring moments of the day. Shazam ultimately went on to surpass 2 billion downloads.

Then Dan Murphy and Andy Pearson of Liquid Death closed the conference and pretty much jolted every marketer in the room awake.

For Sandra Lopez, more than 20 years in finance has grown into something larger than a professional career. Her experience has also become a way to support entrepreneurs, share financial knowledge, and serve Nebraska’s Latino community.

Today, October 2, marks six years since I officially started Lozafina.

Six years ago, I had an idea, a lot of experience, plenty of determination, and no real way of knowing what this would become.

Since then, Lozafina has grown into a team, a client roster, a community, and something much bigger than I ever imagined when I filed those papers in 2020.

Last week, we celebrated that journey with The Big Mix, surrounded by clients, friends, collaborators, and people who have supported us along the way.

And then, because this is Lozafina, we went right back to work.

There are moments when you look around a room and realize you are standing inside something you once only imagined.

The BIG Mix was one of those moments for me.

Celebrating six years of Lozafina surrounded by so many people who have encouraged, challenged, hired, referred, mentored, partnered with, and simply believed in us, was overwhelming in the best possible way.

Lozafina is proud to introduce the Rising Hustlers Cohort, a group of young creators gaining real-world experience while helping campaign for the 2026 Hustle Conference.

The cohort was created by Lozafina CEO and founder Josefina Loza to give emerging creatives an opportunity to develop content, strengthen their portfolios, build professional relationships, and contribute to a live marketing and public relations campaign.

“I wanted to use our access to create access for someone else,” Loza said.

Young creatives are often told they need experience before they can get an opportunity. Josefina Loza of Lozafina Marketing & Public Relations and Eric Gautschi, founder of the Hustle Conference, decided to flip that script.

They created the Young Hustlers Cohort to allow emerging creators to work on a real campaign promoting the entrepreneurship event.

“We’re proud to be sponsoring the Hustle Conference. But I didn’t want Lozafina’s sponsorship to be only about putting our logo on something,” Loza said. “I wanted to use our access to create access for someone else.”

For Bart Vargas, art has never been limited to what hangs on a gallery wall. A visual artist, educator, and advocate from Bellevue, Nebraska, Vargas has spent decades creating, teaching, and connecting people to the arts, both through his own work and by making sure others know what is happening in Omaha’s creative community.