Konfrst fights for public television
In 1999, Jennifer Glover Konfrst and her husband were living in Chicago. She had moved there to work for Fannie Mae Mortgage Co., and though she loved the job, she found she missed home.
“[My husband] was actually the first to say, ‘Let’s go back home,'” Konfrst said. “We kept saying, ‘When we go back to Des Moines, we’ll …’ One day, he finally e-mailed me at work, saying, ‘Why don’t we just go home?’ I’ll never forget it. We put a sign in the yard that night and had a buyer for the house by the weekend.”
Konfrst spent much of her childhood moving from place to place with her mother, but eventually moved in with her father and stepmother in Des Moines. She loved the community and after high school enrolled at Drake University. Konfrst graduated with a public relations degree from the university’s journalism school in 1996. Upon graduation, Konfrst joined the re-election campaign of Sen. Tom Harkin. She had served as an intern in his senate office in Washington, D.C. the summer after her sophomore year. Growing up, Konfrst was fascinated with politics, in part because her father, Mike Glover, was a reporter who covered political campaigns.
In August 1996, Konfrst joined Fannie Mae, and helped the company open its Iowa Partnership Office. She moved to the company’s Chicago office in 1998.
Upon returning to Des Moines, Konfrst worked for the CMF&Z advertising and public relations agency, but the company began to struggle for survival and she “saw the writing on the wall.” She picked up the want ads, and saw Iowa Public Television was offering what seemed like “the perfect job.”
In July 2001, Konfrst went to work for IPTV and has been working for the network ever since. As manager of public relations, she is challenged to convince the public that, in a world with 500 channels, public television is relevant and important.
“I believe in the cause of public television,” she said. “Every day, I get to see my kids enjoy it. That means a lot to me.”
Konfrst has two children: Elizabeth, 3; and James, 18 months.