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Our commitment to making Omaha a better place to live, work and play shows up in the stories we share about our clients, who trust us not only to understand who they are, but to meaningfully show who they are to the rest of the city.
Two Omaha women, Elizebeth Murphy and Linda Lovgren, grew the agency into what it is today: a company built on honesty, success, vision and commitment.
Sarah Baker Hansen, who has been with the team since 2021, will take the reins during the next four years, guiding the agency into its next chapter. In 2030, she will fully own and run the agency.
Elizebeth, Linda and Sarah share the same values, goals and commitment to our city. And all three thrive on participating in large-scale, complex projects that make Omaha stronger, more competitive, better-known.
She’s been part of influential, large-scale capital investments in our city, including the downtown convention center and the Papillion ballpark. Her work includes advising on transportation projects, infrastructure upgrades and significant fundraising initiatives, helping her clients ensure public support for their projects. She was the first woman to serve as chairman of the Omaha Chamber board. She is known not just for understanding the story — no matter how complicated — but for being fearless in her pursuit of getting it told.
She added her name to Elizebeth Murphy’s firm, Emspace, in 2018. Elizebeth started her career in Chicago in communications design, and returned to Omaha to start Emspace in 1992. Her work is, and has always been, focused on connecting communities and people through innovative communications but also, like Linda, through the power of good storytelling.
Under her leadership, Emspace built a reputation for supporting arts organizations and nonprofits, working closely with governmental agencies and developing decades-long relationships with funders. Elizebeth leads clients and our team through capital campaigns, advocacy efforts, brand development and major events focused on important community and national issues and ideas.
Her kind, steady hand and approachable leadership and mentoring style helped her build a team of professionals who feel supported and ultimately believe in their own ability to thrive. And, true to her roots, she continues to advocate for award-winning design and writing as part of a successful communications team.
Elizebeth immediately realized Sarah’s shared values and commitment to Omaha when she hired her to lead the PR team as Linda moved toward other pursuits after four decades of work.
She helped grow the company in new directions, including by introducing two-part, innovative media training seminars and creating a custom-built crisis communications program that serves the modern needs of clients. Many nonprofit and corporate clients, in spite of knowing the importance of a crisis plan, don’t have one. Some have media-facing staff who are nervous to do interviews, and just need the confidence and training to speak with reporters. Emspace gets them there.
In her five years with the company, Sarah led public relations on several major community projects, including the Omaha Central Library, the Omaha Streetcar, the future North High School football stadium and Butler-Gast YMCA, the opening of the Kiewit Luminarium, Malcolm X’s induction into the Nebraska Hall of Fame, the introduction of the nation’s largest fully free bike share program and the launch of Omaha’s first protected bikeway, among many others yet to be announced.
Elizebeth pushed Sarah toward deep client work, encouraging her to build an enviable team of former journalists who have an inherent strength to not just understand a story, but write it, share it and make others care about it, too.
That important skill is one Emspace has embraced agency wide. It makes us different, and it makes us stand out.
Client relationships old and new, combined with internal transparency and communication, will ensure a seamless transition.
We are deeply proud to be part of Omaha’s momentum. Our network crosses the city and beyond, and we work hard to be trusted partners able to navigate and shepherd our community’s biggest ideas. Our award-winning team, composed of dedicated creatives, public relations professionals and account service strategists, are the backbone of our success.
Want to become part of our story by letting us tell yours? Send us a note.
Photo credit: Joshua Foo
