NOVEMBER 2025
CoverSTORY Story COVER
Move It Monday: A Free, Low-Cost Wellness Tool Third Annual Haircuts & Hams Men’s Wellness Clinic — pg.pg.11 16 Rooted in Rural Where Health Meets Resilience Brotherhood, GetRuralLeaderMag.com | NOVEMBER 2025 1
Contents Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Kuanita E. Murphy, PhD Rural Leader Magazine, LLC is a digital publication that highlights every day people doing extraordinary things nationally and abroad. www.RuralLeaderMag.com www.GetRuralLeaderMag.com
About Us
Launched in March 2014, Rural Leader Magazine, LLC is a digital publication with a mission to highlight every day people doing extraordinary things in business, education, music, community, art, sports, and leadership nationally and abroad. Rural Leader Magazine honors exemplary individuals on a variety of levels, such as the 20 under 20 Honors, 40 under 40 Honors, Best Small Town Restaurant, Small Town America’s 100 Most Influential People, the Scholars of Collegiate Distinction, Fifty under Fifty, and the Eagle Elite Club.—
6 Barbershop Talks: Teen Edition — Building Youth Voices, One Conversation at a Time
15 Rural Leader Magazine Expands to YouTube: Real Stories, Rural Voices, Powerful Impact
9 How can Veteran business owners overcome financial challenges?
17 Make a holiday statement with charming poinsettias
10 Twenty Twenty Six Forty under 40 TriState Call for Nominations COVER STORY 11 Third Annual Haircuts & Hams Men’s Wellness Clinic — Where Health Meets Brotherhood
18 Third Annual Trunk or Treat: Barbershop Edition —A Celebration of Community, Creativity, and Care 20 When access to care matters most: How CRNAs keep rural America safe and healthyt
Reproduction in any manner, in whole or in part, in English, or other languages, is prohibited without written consent. Send editorial ideas to Kuanita Murphy, PhD, Editor-in-Chief Contact Us ruralleadermagazine@gmail.com Tell us what you think about our publications, if you have a great idea for a story, or to just share. We may print your comments in Rural Leader Magazine. By sending us your comments, you’re giving permission to call you for an interview. Please be sure to include your name, address, email address, and phone number so we can reach you. Write to us at RuralLeaderMagazine@gmail.com— 2
RuralLeaderMag.com | NOVEMBER 2025
Editor’s Note
The Steady Heartbeat of Small Town Leadership By Dr. Kuanita E. Murphy, Publisher Rural Leader Magazine
In every small town, there’s a rhythm — not loud or hurried, but steady and sure. It’s the sound of people who keep showing up. Year after year. Season after season. It’s the heartbeat of rural leadership, and it’s stronger than ever. That heartbeat is what this issue of Rural Leader Magazine celebrates — the quiet doers, the bridge builders, the ones who keep the light on when things get dim. Rural leadership doesn’t always come with microphones or headlines. More often, it’s found in the consistency of those who show up, roll up their sleeves, and do the work that keeps communities whole. You’ll see that heartbeat in the men who sat in the barber’s chair at the 3rd Annual Haircuts & Hams Men’s Wellness Clinic, taking steps to-
ward better health and brotherhood. You’ll hear it in the laughter of youth who gathered for the 2nd Annual Barbershop Talks: Teen Edition, learning that strength isn’t just physical — it’s the courage to speak, listen, and grow. And you’ll feel it in the warmth of the 3rd Annual Trunk or Treat: Barbershop Edition, where families came together not just for candy, but for connection. These stories remind us that small-town leadership isn’t an event — it’s a lifestyle. It’s the fire chief setting up safety cones before sunrise, the barber who turns his shop into a health clinic, the volunteers who decorate car trunks in October, and the organizations who keep believing in the collective “we.” When I founded Rural Leader Magazine back in March 2014, my goal was simple: to prove that rural doesn’t mean forgotten. More than a decade later, that mission has only deepened. Month after month, we get to highlight people who are redefining what it means to lead, to serve, and to sustain hope in the places that built them. If you’ve ever wondered whether your work matters — it does. Every partnership, every small act of service, every early morning or late-night idea you put into action moves the needle forward for your community. Because small towns don’t thrive by chance. They thrive because people like you keep showing up — steady, strong, and full of heart. So here’s to the rhythm of rural life — the steady heartbeat that keeps on giving, guiding, and growing. Keep leading, keep believing, and keep building. The work you do truly matters.
What you do matters. @RuralLeaderMag GetRuralLeaderMag.com | NOVEMBER 2025 3