.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Some people draw a distinct line between work and the rest of life, but not Lori SchraderBachar. “My hobby is community service,” she said. “I am a firm believer in trying to make the world a better place.”

A former farm girl from Northwest Iowa, she lives up to her principles through a long list of civic-minded activities that blend well with her job at the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women.

SchraderBachar is the president of the Iowa Capital Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration; a court-appointed special advocate for Polk County; a board member of the Friends of Iowa Civil Rights Inc.; a board member of the National Association of Commissions for Women; and the list goes on.

She has been involved in a number of groups and projects that focus on women’s issues, and SchraderBachar traces that to the influence of Marilyn Murphy. SchraderBachar was an intern in the Sioux City office of Sen. Charles Grassley at a time when debate was raging about adding an Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Murphy, who is now a member of the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame, “really challenged me,” SchraderBachar said. “She said if I was serious I should be involved with other women’s issues, too.”

When she graduated from high school in Battle Creek, SchraderBachar wanted to become a White House correspondent on television, “the next Andrea Mitchell.” After working in Grassley’s office and volunteering at a couple of other government offices, she decided she might like to work in government.

Eventually, she married Chicago native Steve Bachar – they melded their family names to create a new one – and they settled in Des Moines, more or less halfway between their respective parents.

There’s even less time for leisure activities now with two children at home: Daughter Naomi is 5 and son JJ is 8. However, SchraderBachar does like to attend plays at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, and she’s a member of a book club that meets monthly.

“At some point, I would like to maybe volunteer in a library,” she said. “My very first job was working in the Battle Creek library. And as the kids get older, I would like to be a stagehand, working backstage at a theater.”