This month, our sister company—Strictly Business Omaha—celebrate 15 years with a special anniversary cover. September is our official anniversary month, but this is truly a great time to be celebrating, not only because of the milestone, but also because there are many exciting things in the works right now and strides being taken to remain a top-notch local news source and strong advertising tool.
When I celebrate a milestone anniversary, I get overwhelmed when I think about every year that got us here. The highs and lows along the way all feel worth it when I’m able to look around at everything we’ve accomplished and how much we’ve grown since we launched Strictly Business in Omaha 15 years ago and in Lincoln almost 28 years ago. Taking the leap into Omaha was a big deal for us. We had been wanting to do it for a couple years, especially after seeing the meaningful impact we were making in the Lincoln business community—it made us eager to do it on an even bigger scale. It took a lot of faith and prayers.
I’m grateful for all the amazing staff members Shayne and I have had throughout the years—way too many to name—and many of them have gone on to start businesses of their own, which makes me very proud!
Our current staff consists of Hannah Hundley, who has been with Strictly Business for over three years now. Hannah acts as editor and director of operations, which encompass as many different responsibilities as the titles suggest. Our current art director is Dillon Crawford. Dillon came on board within the past year and has been a lot of fun to have around. He’s been a great mentor to our graphic design intern, Emma Tuzicka. We’re all so proud of how much she’s developed her skills as a designer since she started working here! Diane Gumaer is our extraordinary writer. With 30 years of writing experience under her belt, we sure feel lucky to have her on our team and clients love her. In addition, Tegan Colton is on board as an assistant writer and social media strategist. Tegan initially came on to do sales for the magazine, which she still contributes to those efforts, and now she is doing more writing—which is where her passion really lies—and overseeing social media posts for our clients. Also on the social media front is our most recent addition, Meg Stice, who has already helped us established a brand guide and will be carrying engaging team posts and giveaways on our social media accounts.
Both Tegan’s and Meg’s positions are a testament to the importance Strictly Business is putting on the digital presence of the magazine. We are also currently redoing our website, which is very exciting for us. We want the content we create and publish for our clients to be easily accessible online—on both desktop and mobile view. So stay tuned—in the next month or so strictly-business.com and strictlybusinessomaha.com will have a whole new look and feel!
I want to extend a big “THANK YOU!” to our awesome readers and clients. It’s an honor to work with you and for you. It’s our pleasure to promote local businesses in Lincoln and Omaha, and we’re always thrilled when we bring new businesses/organizations into the fold.
