7QYP
Seven Questions with a Young Professional
>Who: Anne Trumble
What: Director at Emerging Terrain
1. Tell us about your job, what you do, and why you chose this career?
I chose my career when I was 5 years old, and have been in various versions of it ever since. My job has changed significantly in the past year. For 15 years prior, I was designing and building public landscapes – streetscapes, parks, plazas, greenroofs, etc. which is very technical. While working at a design firm in NYC, I would daydream about bigger, cultural aspects of Omaha’s broader landscape and what I could do to orchestrate projects that make an impact on how the public perceives it. I am now back in Omaha as director of Emerging Terrain, a nonprofit I founded here before going to New York. It’s a different version of the landscape architecture I’ve spent my life pursuing.
2. What is your favorite part of living in Omaha?
In this order: the dynamic philanthropic community, the food, and how quickly an idea can happen.
3. What could Omaha do to be more attractive to young professionals?
I’m probably biased, but I think it could amp itself up as a physical place. I think this means parks and corridors that are performative and forward looking, more restored downtown corridors, a re-envisioned Dodge Street, increased options for public transit. Many of these things have begun to happen, but young professionals will demand more in order to continue to call Omaha home.
4. What are your hobbies outside of work?
My number one hobby is food – specifically eating what other people have made. Through the Stored Potential project, I have also taken a liking to scaling the side of the grain elevator with the folks at Silo Extreme Outdoor Adventures. New York City is also a hobby. It’s my inspiration and I go there often to get new ideas and energy and to keep up with a new generation of public landscapes they are magically creating.
5. What is your favorite website (aside from your company’s site)?
I’m an unashamed social media junkie – Facebook, twitter, and dozens of blogs.
6. If you could have lunch with any one person, living or dead, who would it be and why?
An unexpected funder of a whole host of transformative Emerging Terrain projects, because those are the most exciting and inspiring moments ever and would mean we could keep being creative in Omaha.
7. What’s on your favorite T-shirt?
I Live in Omaha by What Cheer