Riverside Chats

My guest today is Pablo Arza, aka DJ Arza. 

Arza graduated from Ralston High School and received training in jazz at the Berklee College of Music and Tribeca Jazz Institute. In Omaha, you can catch him performing at The Red Lion Lounge, The North Omaha Music and Arts (NOMA Omaha) and other venues around Omaha.  

Alamdari grew up in Texas before attending the University of Missouri-Columbia and receiving her bachelors and master's in journalism. 

Currently, she is the senior reporter and Secreast Greater Nebraska reporting at the Flatwater Free Press, Nebraska’s first independent nonprofit newsroom. Her reporting on Nebraska prisons won a 2023 Great Plains Journalism Award. 

We’re discussing the power of the story, navigating the saturated social media landscape, journalism’s role in functioning democracy.

Payne is a native to St. Louis, and is completing a doctoral program in educational administration at the University of Nebraska Omaha. 

He works at the Metropolitan Community College and is the Director of College Success and Career Readiness partnership, in addition to the assistant director for career pathway scholarship programs that focus on the trades.

Additionally, Payne is the co-owner of Journey to Talents LLC, a consulting firm that offers professional skill development and coaching for students in our community. 

Bush grew up in North Omaha and has a master's degree in Nonprofit Administration as well as a bachelor's degree in behavioral science specializing in homicide grief support, crisis intervention, motivational interviewing & de-escalation. 

She created families of the stolen in 2012, a nonprofit that specializes in community centered homicide grief support as well as anti-violence awareness campaigns. 

Shaping Healthy Reproductive Outcomes 

working with new & expecting mothers, providing additional support in an attempt to reduce the infant mortality rate in the black community.

Shaping Healthy Reproductive Outcomes working with new & expecting mothers, providing additional support in an attempt to reduce the infant mortality rate in the black community.

We’re discussing the importance of community, the continual process of healing, and celebrating the lives of those taken from us too soon. 

My guest today is Ella Weber. 

Weber received a Bachelor of fine arts from the university of Nebraska Lincoln and Master of Fine Arts with distinction from the University of Kansas, with an emphasis on printmaking and print media.

She has had many artistic residencies across the nation, and some of her recent solo shows have included exhibitions at Western Exhibitions (Chicago, IL), Munson (Utica, NY), Radial Gallery (Dayton, OH), The Union for Contemporary Art (Omaha, NE), Plains Art Museum (Fargo, ND).

We’re discussing the importance of flexibility with the artistic process, and ways for more artists to have increased access to studio spaces.

My guest today is Barron Breland. 

Breland began singing as a child in the Atlanta Boy’s Choir, and later received his undergraduate in music theory from the University of Georgia and doctorate of music in choral conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. 

He is the artistic director of the River City Mixed Chorus,  one of the first GALA (Gay & Lesbian Association of Choruses) ensembles established in 1984 and features singers from all LGBTQ+ identities and allies.

He also is the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs & Dean of the Graduate School at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. 

Here is my conversation with Barron Breland.

Today, I’m talking with Arturo Aceves Gonzales. 

Gonzalez is a native of Mexico, and received his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Universidad de Guadalajara.

He is the Head of Health Equity and Economic Opportunity at the Latino Economic Development Council. 

In our conversation, we talk about upwards mobility for Latinos in Omaha, as well as the nuts and bolts of entrepreneurship for community members of all citizenship levels. 

Here is our conversation.

My guest today is artist Rachel Mindrup.  

Mindrup was raised in Omaha and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Nebraska Kearney before receiving her Master of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. 

She is an associate professor of drawing and painting and the Richard L. Deming, MD Endowed Chair in Medical Humanities at Creighton University.

We’re talking about how Mindrup balances medicine, healing, and identity through her artistic practice, as well as her work advocating for Neurofibromatosis on Capitol Hill.

My guest today is Jennifer Sheshko Wood.  

Wood is a native to Canada, and grew up in Montreal, QB. She came to the states to pursue her MFA in Costume Design from Indiana University.

As a costume designer and crafts artisan, her American credits include the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre, Indiana University, Indiana Festival Theatre, the American Players Theatre, and Opera Theatre St. Louis. Jenn worked in Montreal with Geordie Productions, The Segal Center for the Arts, Table d’Hote Theatre, and Fallen Angel Productions.

My guest today is advocate Christopher McCroy.  

McCroy was born and raised in North Omaha, and received his Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from Morehouse College and is completing his PhD in higher education at UCLA.

He has been the executive director of 100 Black men of Omaha since the fall of 2023.

The 100 Black Men of Omaha, Inc. (100) was established in 1995, an alliance of leading African-American men from a myriad of professions including community leaders, business executives, physicians, attorneys, entrepreneurs, elected officials, and educators volunteering their time to better the community. ”Real Men Giving Real Time.”

They are having their 20th annual men of honor fundraiser celebrating 30 years of impact in their community anniversary this Saturday, November 15th

Here is my conversation with Christopher McCroy.