Kiva Iowa: Amidst startup connects Midwest creatives

Traveling as a full-time fashion stylist inspired Dubuque resident Jessica Pfohl Paisley to start a print and digital magazine for creatives, focused on the Midwest.

Since 2021, she also has been the motivated founder and editor of Amidst magazine.

Paisley, 39, is hosting a fashion show at Dubuque’s annual Bloktoberfest on Sept. 14

She’ll be bringing along copies of the 2024 Amidst magazine’s annual print edition. Its theme is movement and dance, with a cover photo of Larry Yazzie, an Indigenous performer from the Meskwaki Nation near Tama.

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Paisley also is using the event to launch her Amidst signature fragrance and candles.

“Making connections with many talented Midwest creatives inspired me to launch Amidst,” Paisley said. “I found a networking gap for creatives while styling costumes for longer films or fashion events. What’s important is creating community, connections and relationships.”

Paisley developed a three-part business model for Amidst to challenge the stereotype that you have to leave the Midwest to be a successful creative.

The business includes Amidst Creatives, a free online community of working professionals sharing ideas, the Amidst magazine digital version, and the annual Amidst print edition.

Members and subscribers are a community of artists, creatives and makers in the arts, beauty, culture, design, fashion, film, music and photography from across 12 Midwestern states — Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

She began by focusing on Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.

Paisley, who grew up in rural Iowa, also is a community program specialist for the Rural Ideas Network, a support network where small rural businesses can develop economic development partnerships. People can find her on produceiowa.org, a directory resource for Iowa filmmakers.

Paisley’s husband, Mark, works for John Deere, and her daughter, Sofia, starts kindergarten this year.

The magazine

The annual Amidst print magazine this year is a 100-page collectible, coffee-table publication, selling for $25 per issue, Paisley said.

Readers will find “timeless stories of Midwest creatives,” she said, including existing work like blogs and poetry; commissioned work for people wanting to write on a topic; and commissioned upon our invitation.

“We are working on adding more sponsors to allow more paid submissions,” she said.

The Amidst Creatives meet every Monday morning via Zoom, where they turn off Zoom’s audio and video to co-work for an hour before discussing their ideas.

The sessions, Paisley said, typically help members plan their week and get organized.

“I care about Rural Ideas because I grew up on an Iowa farm,” she said. “I am passionate about Amidst as my storytelling venture, and my styling career is simply fun!

That styling career includes personal shopping, closet “edits” and costume design/travel for independent Iowa filmmakers. Some weeks, she said, are quiet while others may involve travel to Washington, D.C., for five days for a television commercial.

Kiva loan

After Paisley attended NewBoCo’s EntreFEST 2021 in Cedar Rapids, she became the first person to participate in the Kiva Iowa microloan program two weeks after it began, securing an $8,500 loan to launch Amidst.

Kiva is a zero-interest, zero-fee, crowdsourced loan program offering loans from $1,000 to $15,000 to small entrepreneurs. Lenders can invest as low as $25 to help startup or existing businesses. Information is available at https://newbo.co/kiva/