Our team – Rural By Choice

Erika Nelson

Town: Lucas

Favorite shoes to wear: Boots.

Food I wish we had in our town: Anything fresh! Please!!!

Favorite cold beverage: Microbrews and iced tea (not at the same time)

Why are you rural by choice? I have the best of both worlds here – get to enjoy the small-town feel as a home when I’m here, and travel extensively to cities and states and friends and inspiration and refueling the rest of the time… Could only do that here!

What you do to pay the bills: Artist. Yeah, really. No foolin’.

What your dream job would be. I have it.

Biggest city you’ve lived in: Wilmington Delaware maybe… depends on how ‘living somewhere’ needs to be. On the road, everywhere was home, so I guess it’s be the U.S. if you took it as a conceptual city.

Best thing you’ve done. Don’t know yet… there’s gotta be something else, just around the corner even better than what’s been done.

Liz Sosa

Town: Garden City

Why are you rural by choice? I’m rural by choice because I love that my community is my family.

Favorite cold beverage: My favorite cold beverage is iced tea.

What you do to pay the bills: To pay the bills I wear two hats: I run a custom graphic design/vinyl wrap/sublimation apparel shop in GC and do community development facilitation throughout western Kansas. Being able to work in both the business sector and service sector means I’m living my dream job and that there is never a dull moment.

Best thing you’ve done. The best thing I’ve ever done is to “grow in place” in southwest Kansas. 🙂

Sarah Werner

Town: Winfield

If we had a board game festival, what board game would you play? Dominos. Wait, that’s not a board game. Does that count?

Favorite shoes to wear: Flip-flops in summer, boots in winter, and barefoot whenever I can get away with it.

Food I wish we had in our town: sushi

Favorite cold beverage: Currently, a glass of my husband’s first batch of wine from the grapes on our farm. But not cold. Again, does that count?

Why are you rural by choice?

Because I love the sense of community and slow pace of a smaller town. Because I want our home to be more than just some place for our kids to grow up in, but rather a place for their souls to connect with the earth. Because hearing locusts at night and watching the sunrise each morning fills me so much more than bright city lights ever could.

What you do to pay the bills: Chamber of Commerce Exec

What your dream job would be: To make a living sells fresh local food, wine, and honey. We currently sell local food and honey, but only part-time

Biggest city you’ve lived in: Lawrence, KS

Best thing you’ve done. Becoming a mom. If someone had told me how much fun having kids would be, I might have had them sooner!

Abby Amick

Town: Alma

If we had a board game festival, what board game would you play? “The Farming Game” I grew up playing it at holidays with family, the concept is similar to Monopoly but with fields, equipment and crops.

Favorite shoes to wear: Cowboy Boots are my preference, but it’s always fun to dress the part and wear heels once in a while.

Food I wish we had in our town: Mexican Food! and Vietnamese

Favorite cold beverage: Ice Cold Milk with Oreos

Why are you rural by choice? I’ve had the opportunity to live in Washington D.C., Toulouse, France, and my family farm. There is no better place to live, raise a family, make friends, and feel a sense of belonging, than a rural community.

What you do to pay the bills: Economic Development Director by day, and a ranchers wife and helping hand during the nights and weekends.

What your dream job would be: I thoroughly enjoy bookkeeping, multi-tasking, spreadsheets, and reconciling numbers – I think I would have made a great accountant.

Biggest city you’ve lived in: Washington D.C.

Best thing you’ve done. Taking a chance on Wabaunsee County, and finding a community that has embraced me, given me a home, and encouraged me to excel right here in Rural Kansas.

Julie Roller

Town: Pottawatomie County

Favorite shoes to wear: “flops”

Food I wish we had in our town: More “local” food. My favorite types of restaurants aren’t chains.

Favorite cold beverage: I ♥ craft beer! A good Stout will always make me smile! Friend me on Untapped: Julie-Roller and we can discuss good beer.

Why are you rural by choice? I was born and raised in a town of 200. I feel a great responsibility to give back to the small towns that helped make me who I am today.

What you do to pay the bills: Economic Development

What your dream job would be: I’d love to administer grant funds – you know, I’d love getting to hear about exciting projects, businesses and ideas and have an endless supply of money to fund them. I’d be the world’s poorest billionaire because I’d love giving it all away!

Biggest city you’ve lived in: Manhattan, KS. Fun fact: I’ve only lived in 3 towns and 3 houses in my entire life!

Best thing you’ve done: I live for the “warm and fuzzies”! The best things I’ve done includes securing nearly $1 million in grant funds for business and community projects in the last 5 years and leading a team to host the 2014-2015 Kansas Sampler Festival.

Marci Penner

I’m Marci Penner. I’m the director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation and our current project is to go to every incorporated city in Kansas. I like to play Sequence, wear boots, and sip mojitos on the barn porch. I wish my town had a Thai restaurant but I love that they let people drive golf carts around town. I’ve lived in Philadelphia but I’m rural by choice because I’m the most content when I’m in touch with the dirt on our family farm near Inman. I’m living my dream job and hope someday to pass it on to a PowerUp.