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Jacki Brown wants to make the world a better place. Whether she’s at home with her family or on the job as an Administrative Assistant at Midco, she’s always looking for ways to spread a little happiness – often going above and beyond for those around her.

"Jacki's role is extremely vast," said Aaron Kietzmann, Director of Field Operations. "She does everything from event planning to helping us with meeting agendas and invoicing."

"Jacki organizes a lot of the employee engagement within the Midco offices throughout South Dakota," added Administrative Support Manager Marisa Trueblood. "She's been very involved with Cable Olympics, she does the company picnics, the chili cookoffs, the citywide cleanups – you name it, she's involved with it."

A Legacy of Service

Brown's caring nature isn’t the only reason she feels compelled to do her best for Midco. Her fierce loyalty to the company began with her mother, Office Manager Deb Sparks, who has worked at Midco for more than forty years.

"I was a Midco baby, and my best friend was also a Midco baby," Brown said. "We ran around with lots of kids at lots of events, and it was just really like a family then, as it is now."

Spreading Cheer, One Rock at a Time

Brown has had two Midco babies herself during her 11 years with the company. A favorite hobby of Brown’s family is painting rocks to leave around Sioux Falls. The aim is to brighten people’s day when they find one of the colorful creations.

“We get happiness by making other people happy,” she said. “It's very important to us to show our kids that spreading kindness and being a genuine individual can change things – and can be very powerful.”

During 2018, Brown, her partner and their daughters completed Sioux Falls Parks & Rec’s “80 in ‘18” challenge by visiting all 80 city parks. At each park, they left behind their painted rocks.

“One of the fun things is hearing some of the stories when people actually find the rocks,” said Sparks. “An older woman who lost her husband found a rock that had lyrics on it from their favorite song, and it just meant so much to her to have that. She felt like maybe she was getting a message that he was okay.”

Giving Back as a Family

Brown doesn’t just enjoy Sioux Falls’ greenspaces, she leaves them better than she found them. Each year, she joins Midco team members in numerous city clean-up events, and independently, she and her family collect trash in their neighborhood park. It’s just another way she’s showing her girls the importance of community pride.  

“I want my girls to be strong, but more so to be kind to people – and it's important that they see that from us,” said Brown. “To me, being a Trailblazer is a willingness to take that leap – to be your best, to do your best and to help others be their best.”