Age: 30.
Job title/occupation/place of employment: People experience specialist at Vivun
Volunteer activities:
- Bellevue (Iowa) Marquette School Strategic Planning Committee.
- St. Joseph’s Church.
- Jackson County (Iowa) Economic Alliance Board.
- Brain Health Now.
Education: Master of Science in management, Catholic University. Bachelor of Arts in psychology and business management, Loras College.
Family: Husband, Nathaniel Kapraun; children, Carmella, Margaret.
Person most inspirational to me and why: My mother, Sherri Sieverding, because of everything she has given to our family.
Favorite thing to do outside of work: Spending time with my family.
One word to describe me: Sincere.
What’s one thing that most people would be surprised to know about you: I am the oldest of five girls.
Greatest fear: A natural disaster or an apocalypse I’m not prepared for that would take me away from my children.
What’s the one thing you are most passionate about in your life: That people feel heard, cared for and understood.
Claira Sieverding Kapraun, People Experience Specialist, Vivun
Claira Sieverding Kapraun’s role as a people experience specialist at Vivun helps her customers create an engaging and positive onboarding experience for their new employees. In this competitive hiring environment, Kapraun’s guidance works to reduce employee turnover for her customers.
Kapraun also collaborates with the People Team colleagues, employees and leaders to build a culture of positive employee experience within Vivun, a firm that works with businesses to help improve their customer service.
“Bringing the human aspect to the workplace allows me to make people feel welcome, know that they are heard and their experiences are cared about,” Kapraun said.
David Heiar, with the Jackson County (Iowa) Economic Alliance nominated Kapraun for Rising Stars.
“I’ve known of Claira from her early days and got to know her professionally after she graduated from Loras College. We coincidentally attended a training day for the Heart and Soul program to create vibrant rural communities,” Heiar said.
“Claira is a strong advocate for her hometown of Bellevue (Iowa). She was instrumental in working with the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, and the Jackson County Economic Alliance to bring the Heart and Soul community visioning program to Bellevue,” Heiar said.
Ending the stigma of mental health is one of Kapraun’s goals. About five years ago, she began working with a group of philanthropic women in Dubuque to start a grassroots organization called Brain Health Now. The mission is to reframe how we talk about mental health and changing the language from mental health to brain health.
Debi Butler, one of the organization’s cofounders said “Claira is dedicated, articulate, kind, highly intelligent, efficient and a great organizer of events.”
Kapraun is the director of Brain Health Now in addition to her full-time job with Vivun.
“Claira is a role model for anyone on juggling work, life and being successful,” Butler said. “She has been by my side working with the Legislature, presenting at over 100 events, organizing events for the Dubuque school district and working with marketing firms to create awareness of brain health.”
The latest venture they did together was to open the first two Brain Health Retreat Rooms in the Dubuque Community School District, with the plan to open six more in the area.
Kapraun credits her success to those who have been most pivotal in her life: Her parents, Mark and Sherri Sieverding, husband, Nathaniel, their two daughters, her sisters and the rest of her friends and family.
“Also, I couldn’t do it without the Bellevue and Dubuque communities that supported and nurtured my experiences over the years,” Kapraun said.