Amanda McGill Johnson is a former journalist and Nebraska state senator, current Millard School Board member, and executive director of Nebraska Cures. She talks about entering public life at 26, learning to collaborate across differences, what we mean by the common good, and how loss and life experience have changed her understanding of expectations, control, and living well.

Amanda McGill Johnson studied broadcasting and political science at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln before beginning her career as a television reporter. Her interest in politics eventually moved her from covering public life to participating in it. At 26, she ran for Nebraska’s nonpartisan Legislature and won, serving two terms from 2007 to 2015. McGill Johnson’s work since then has included child welfare and anti-human-trafficking advocacy, congressional service, science and health policy, and public education. She is executive director of Nebraska Cures, co-director of Nebraska Women in STEM, and serves on the Millard Public Schools Board of Education. She is also the author of The Unicameral and You: Collaborating for the Common Good in Nebraska’s Capitol.