Emily Shettler
After all the candidates, the crowds and the chaos, Iowa Caucus voters will make their choices tonight.
Emily Schettler of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry says being in the national spotlight is putting some old stereotypes about Iowa to rest.
“I take a lot of pride in Des Moines and in Iowa, and so I like the opportunity to show…there’s a lot more to Iowa than a lot of people think,” she says.
Just one in five Iowans works in an ag-related job. Nearly 40 percent of the state’s workforce is employed in the finance, insurance or professional services industries. And the state’s manufacturing industry shipped out more than $100 million worth of goods in 2013.
“People don’t realize kind of everything that goes on with that,” Schettler says. “All the things that are made in Iowa and just how diverse and dynamic all of that is.”
A total of $15 billion in manufactured goods and raw commodities like corn and soybeans were exported from Iowa in 2014.
(Reporting by Scott Peterson of Minnesota News Network)