Prairie Portrait: Abbie Sawyer of BitMethod

Best place in Des Moines no one knows about: If you don’t know about the Bicycle Collective in the East Village, check it out. Great source for used bikes, bike parts or bench space to work on your rig…

Name: Abbie Sawyer
Title/Occupation: Communications Coordinator at BitMethod 
Age: 29
Hometown: Des Moines
Current city: Des Moines
Twitter: TheAbbieRevue

Personal

Title of my autobiography: “Coconut Milk is the New Black”
Thing I can’t live without: Sleep and eggs
Drink of choice: It’s a tie between coffee and kombucha. New potential hybrid—coffeebucha?
Last book I read: “A Natural History of the Senses” by Diane Ackerman
Ultimate road trip snack: Almonds
Entrance song if I was a wrestler: “99 Problems” by Jay-Z
Celebrity doppelgänger: Morgan Freeman
Guilty pleasure band and/or film: Maroon 5. A little pop never hurt anybody.
Chosen career in an alternate reality: Pirate
Worst OCD tendency: Copy editing advertisements, pamphlets and websites in my head. 
Quote I might have said: “Friends that compost together, stay together.”
Which actor or actress, and why: Melissa McCarthy. Brilliant and so funny.    
Favorite YouTube video: Anything with Louis CK.

Local

Best place in Des Moines no one knows about: If you don’t know about the Bicycle Collective in the East Village, check it out. Great source for used bikes, bike parts or bench space to work on your rig.
Des Moines’ obligatory tourist stop: Zombie Burger + Drink Lab
One thing Des Moines has that other Silicon Prairie cities don’t: Tacopocalypse
Best thing going for Des Moines’ startup community: People are willing to help each other out, whether with advice, introductions or support. 
Last local restaurant I ate at: La Mie
Best meal I’ve had in Des Moines: Jethro’s for Sunday breakfast (brisket and eggs, all day).
Des Moines would be better if… it had a proper grocery store in the East Village. 

The Startup Scene

Social media pet peeve: See the YouTube video above. That’s probably it: when people (myself included) dispense representations of their lives without actually enjoying them in the first place. 
App I’m obsessed with: Fantastical for iPhone. I could not get through a day without my compiled calendar.
Silicon Prairie startup crush: BeardOrNot.co. Who doesn’t love a good beard and the right to rate it?
Most comfortable startup T-shirt I own:  Haven’t found one yet. Send me your T-shirt!
Something most people don’t know about me: When I’m not working, I’m playing music or Crossfitting (is that a verb?) at 8035.
Entrepreneur I most want to grab a drink with: Tony Hseih
I do what I do because… I love to learn, meet people, and build communities around something new.
Before I was in startups…  I taught English, communications and the humanities at a community college.
If money wasn’t an object, my next company would be… about teaching yoga to kids. Or developing urban permaculture solutions. 
The Silicon Prairie startup scene is missing… a mountain of money. If found, please return to Analog.
In five years, I’ll… write my blog posts via telepathy.
In five years, the Silicon Prairie… will boast even more female founders and leaders.

 

Credits: Photos courtesy of Abbie Sawyer.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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