Alice Dittman and Linda Garcia-Perez

Nebraska Pathbreakers profiles Nebraska women who are moving the needle on change.

In 1975, Alice Dittman stepped into a man’s world when she became president of Cornhusker Bank in Lincoln, the first woman to do so in either Lincoln or Omaha. Three months after her husband’s death from cancer, Dittman assumed the helm of Cornhusker Bank when her father retired from running the family business. As bank president Dittman led the path in adopting new electronic banking technology, instituted a job sharing program to help working mothers and expanded bank assets from $8 to $235 million – all while raising three children as a single parent.

In "Why We March" Sarah Thomas and Lisa Maupin, of Lincoln, travel with a group of Nebraskan women to Washington, D.C. to attend the Women’s March.  The women share their perspectives on why they march for women's rights.

Omahan Linda Garcia-Perez celebrates her Chicana heritage through her art and teaching. A second generation American, Garcia-Perez was born in Omaha and raised in a family of 10 children. Her mother worked, so she spent most of her time with her immigrant grandparents. Spanish was spoken at home, so when she began school she struggled with English, but, in that struggle Garcia-Perez found her unique voice in the world.