Learn more about the New Bohemians Podcast, with host Ashley Vanorny.

The New Bohemians Podcast, in its first episode, joins together two apparel brand owners to discuss how their influential brands have helped to inspire activism, create conversation, and be prominent staples of Iowans to wear. We host conversation in this episode with Mike Draper, founder and owner of RAYGUN and Lovar Davis (L.D.) Kidd, Chief Executive Officer of 100% Over Racism (among many other talents).

Maurice Davis of Cedar Rapids, IA is an author, entrepreneur, and Business Coach for Empower by GoDaddy speaks with The New Bohemians Podcast about the realities of entrepreneurship including his own path to becoming an author of multiple books. He highlights how networking plays a critical role in building up a platform to have a successful business.

We connect with local Social Studies educator and TedX licensee Breanna Oxley and discuss a wide array of topics like how host Ashley and her connected over a love for voter advocacy through the League of Women voters, the process of redistricting in Iowa, the importance of building future voters early in schools, the impact of social media on Social Studies, and the impact of food and housing insecurity on a child's ability to learn to name a few. Take a listen and enjoy!

In this episode we catch up with cowboy-hat-toting Johnson County, IA Supervisor Jon Green on his motivation to immediately step into action to assist Cedar Rapidians any way he could (but especially with his very useful skillset of tree trimming/removing trees from roofs) following the devastating Cedar Rapids, IA Derecho in August 2020. This Derecho, in a matter of hours, wiped out more than 65% of our tree canopy, forever changing the local environment for an entire lifetime. On June 8, 2021, Former Mayor of Lone Tree, IA Jon Green won a special election to fill a vacancy for the Johnson County, IA Board of Supervisors. He was the overwhelming leader in the special election with 9,718 votes, or 66% of the vote share. Take a listen to all things local in this podcast episode, and get to know one of our favorite maverick and Iowa cowboys!

This episode is a welcome-back, after a long-hiatus, to our community conversations that might not otherwise have space created for them in the day-to-day. On this episode, we welcome Aspen, CO Councilmember, and Elected Leaders Collective Founder, Skippy Mesirow to discuss the intersection of leadership and wellness. We take a look at how servant leadership is impacted by our own wellness as servant leaders, and the current state of toxicity in politics and finding a way to approach politics in an intentional way that helps us hone in on our pursuit for continuous improvement for our communities. Councilmember Mesirow has a unique perspective now working fulltime in the wellness field with Elected Leaders Collective (ELC), taking into account the personal adversities he has overcome, to help remove the noise from our politics so we can fix the soil that has spoiled. Once we take a serious look at the rotten soil of politics, we can work on creating an environment where our seeds of ideas can grow and flourish. This more vulnerable free-flowing discussion helps to speak to the personal challenges that happen in service to our community and additionally prevent good leaders from serving or stepping up. ELC does mental health and performance coaching & community for mission-driven public sector workers, you can learn more at www.electedleaderscollective.com