I have had the pleasure of being a 2022 and 2023 Nebraska Tech Collaborative Tech Pioneer. Their goal is to build the midwest tech workforce and support the tech industry in Nebraska. I was thrilled to add my two-cents on living and working on tech topics in the state.

Transcript: my name is Elsbeth Magilton. I am the executive director of the Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications law program for the University of Nebraska. I’m also the board president for Girls Code Lincoln, which is a coding camp for fourth through ninth grade girls serving the Lincoln Community.

And I think that I am a Trailblazer in Nebraska because I want to have fun and I want people to realize that Nebraska is a great place to be. I don’t want to compensate for the fact that I’m in Nebraska. I want everyone to realize that it’s awesome to be here and that we have amazing opportunities for a wide breadth of people.

I think Nebraska is this great palette for Innovation and that’s why it’s a great place to innovate here – you know when I think about the mountains, you know they’re majestic, they’re beautiful, they’re inspiring you. Think about the ocean – it’s endless and amazing and mesmerizing. When you think about the Prairie … it’s quiet, gentle, in its own small simple unassuming way, and what a great palette to have to innovate.

We live a slower paced lifestyle here. We have time, we have more money because it’s cheaper to live here, and we have space to get creative and to get messy and to think about things differently.

It’s the gift of space and time and I think people undersell how important that is in the creative process.