Episode Details

Wendy Corr:

Well, hey there folks, welcome to The Roundup. We are a Cowboy State Daily podcast, and we focus on really interesting people in the Cowboy State. And as we kick off this new year, we're in January, we all have these ideas that we're going to do, just a little bit better this year.

Bryan Pedersen is one of those guys that has made it his life's mission to just do a little bit better, but for his community, for his family, for the interests that he's passionate about. And so we are really tickled today to have Bryan Pedersen on as our guest on The Roundup.

And Bryan, Hello, Happy New Year!

Bryan Pedersen:

Yeah, happy new year. Thanks for having me on. I'm excited to be here with you today, Bryan,

Wendy Corr:

This is going to be great. We get ideas from people from either within our staff or or from people outside who say, Hey, you really should talk to this guy. And our staff meeting, and both our editor, Jimmy Orr and our advertising admin, Abby Roich, said, have you talked to Bryan Pedersen? I said, he's not come across my list yet.

Well, this is a great way, a great way, to introduce everybody to Bryan. You live in Cheyenne. You've lived in Cheyenne your whole life. You've taken a few excursions here and there, but you have come back to Cheyenne and you give back to your community. Bryan, tell us about growing up Wyoming. Tell us about Cheyenne of your youth.

Bryan Pedersen:

Well, I'll tell you, born and raised in Cheyenne. I did, the only time I left, of course, I went to the University of Wyoming in Laramie, and then my first two years in finance, I worked in Minneapolis before I had the opportunity to come back here.

And I love being in this community. I love being here. I was, you know, my parents were always so involved in the community. And one thing that you have to understand is we don't know what our lives are like until we are about 19, and then you go to college or go get a job, and you talk to other people and you say, oh, that's the way your house works.

Well, that's the way my house works. And really being involved in the community was something that my parents did when I was little. They've dragged me to fundraisers and board meetings and things. And I just thought that's what everyone does, because you're only living your own life, and you don't realize that when you come out of it.

Maybe not everybody is serving on every board and doing the piece, but it's what drew me into doing. It was the model in which I was raised. I just assumed that we moved forward into it.

Wendy Corr:

Well, you have certainly taken over that role from your parents, no doubt, because you are involved on so many boards and have been involved in everything from chamber choirs to to mix martial arts and combat sports, and that's something we're going to get into here in a little bit. But, but one of the things that struck me when we were just visiting earlier today about what we'd talk about, is you have this phrase that you should date your community, and it's such a unique phrase, and tell me, Bryan, where you got that phrase, and how you live that phrase.

Bryan Pedersen:

You know, I was, my wife and I were co chairs of the United Way with Trent and Tanya Keller and their people in our community. And we were working on fundraising, working on visas, and it's actually one of Tanya's philosophies, is to date your community, as she said one time, several years ago, and it struck me.

And I and I've kind of made it a theme, because when you want a relationship to be better, you date, you do more things, you become more engaged, and you get more out of it. Your commu