Rising Star: With a steady work ethic and a willingness to step forward, Rahe’s building a career one opportunity at a time
Photography by Molly Byron
At 28, Kaelyn Rahe has already learned something many professionals spend decades trying to figure out: influence does not always begin with a title.
Sometimes it begins with a question.
Sometimes it begins with walking into a room even when your heart is racing.
Sometimes it begins with looking around and deciding that if something useful does not exist yet, maybe you should be the one to start it.
That instinct has followed Rahe from small town Minnesota to the Pemberton City Council, from agriculture communications to elevator marketing, and now into a growing network of marketing and communications professionals across Greater Mankato.
Today, Rahe is a marketing coordinator at Minnesota Elevator Incorporated, better known as MEI. She joined the Mankato based company in January 2025 after nearly six years with Ag Management Solutions, where she moved from administrative work into communications and project management.
The move to MEI came at the right time.
“I got to a point in my career that I was like, I want to do something different,” Rahe said. “I saw a job open at MEI and everybody said how great of a company they are.”
She applied, moved through the interview process, and quickly felt the fit.
“It’s been amazing,” she said. “They’re so supportive.”
That support matters to Rahe because she is not the kind of person who is only interested in checking off the requirements of a job description. She likes professional development. She likes giving back. She likes connecting ideas, projects, and people.
“My brain really likes connecting things together,” she said.
A Puzzle-Piece Mind
Rahe grew up in Comfrey and graduated from Springfield High School in 2016 before heading to South Dakota State University. She studied communications with minors in marketing and ag business, eventually graduating in three years by carefully piecing together her credits.
Her original path was not entirely fixed. Her parents thought occupational therapy might be a good fit. Rahe once considered becoming an ag teacher. Eventually, she found her way into agricultural communications.
The degree gave her a broad base.
With an agricultural communications degree, she studied alongside students focused on public relations, marketing, and advertising, while also staying connected to the agriculture industry. That combination gave her options, even if she did not yet know exactly where they would lead.
After college, she moved to the Mankato area. Her husband, Chase Rahe, had attended Minnesota State University, Mankato, and the two had been high school sweethearts who managed a three hour distance during college.
She laughs now about part of her motivation to finish school quickly.
“I had motivation to move to Mankato,” she said.
From Agriculture to Elevators
Rahe’s first major professional chapter came through Ag Management Solutions, where she had previously interned. She started there in May 2019 and stayed until January 2025, eventually becoming a communications project manager.
The work gave her exposure to agriculture, event planning, communications, and project management. She helped support major events, managed marketing details, worked with farmers, and traveled across the state.
It also brought opportunities she had not expected. One of her favorite memories was traveling to Thailand as part of agriculture-related work connected to soybean exports.
“A lot of our soybeans are exported across the world,” Rahe said.
Those experiences gave her a broader view of how local industries connect to national and international markets. But after nearly six years, she was ready for a new challenge.
At MEI, her day-to-day work is varied. She supports marketing efforts across national sales and field operations, helps prepare for trade shows, works on campaigns, manages apparel and brand consistency, and helps bring more organization to internal marketing workflows.
One of the areas where she believes she can make a strong impact is project management. MEI is integrating Asana more deeply into its work, and Rahe sees an opportunity to help organize tasks, projects, and communication across the company.
For someone who thinks in connections and systems, the work fits.
Building Her Own Board
Rahe’s investment in the community extends beyond her job.
In 2025, she started what she currently calls the MarCom Meetup, a group for local marketing, communications, and events professionals. The idea came after she attended a Greater Mankato Young Professionals event where Scott Morrell spoke about building your own board of directors.
Rahe expected the presentation to be about a literal board. Instead, the message was about building a network of people who can support you in your career and life.
The idea stuck.
After the event, she reached out to Greater Mankato Young Professionals and asked whether they could help her identify people in marketing, communications, and events roles. She created a survey, asked what people would want from a group, and received enough interest to move forward.
The group began meeting in September. Early meetings focused on introductions and general conversation. Since then, Rahe has shaped monthly gatherings around topics such as crisis communications, with a mix of speakers and roundtable discussion.
The goal is not complicated. She wants people in similar roles to have a place to ask questions, share challenges, and learn from one another.
“That’s the goal of the group,” Rahe said. “To get those interactions.”
The group has remained small enough for real conversation, usually around 10 people, but Rahe sees room for it to grow. She also sees a real need. Marketing professionals in smaller organizations can be isolated, especially if they are one-person departments or handling marketing as only one part of a larger job.
Rahe knows what it is like to want more people to learn from.
“You don’t know what you don’t know,” she said.
Seen for Her Potential
Rahe was named Young Professional of the Year through Greater Mankato Young Professionals in 2025. She believes the MarCom Meetup likely played a role, along with her steady involvement and willingness to bring ideas forward.
The recognition meant something to her.
“It felt like someone was actually seeing what I can do and my potential,” she said.
That word, potential, comes up naturally in Rahe’s story. Not because she is waiting to do something meaningful someday, but because she is already learning how to turn initiative into influence.
She is not the loudest person in the room, and she knows it.
“I’m not the loudest person in the room,” Rahe said. “I’m the person in the corner that’s excited to think about talking to somebody.”
That makes some of what she has done even more notable. She is not building community because it comes easily in every setting. She is building it because she understands its value.
Learning by Stepping In
Before moving, Rahe served for two years on the Pemberton City Council.
The decision came after she participated in a leadership program when she was about 22. She noticed that many young people graduate from college, move to new communities, and do not always know how to get involved.
Rahe wanted to do something.
So she ran for city council.
She won.
The experience was both valuable and intimidating. She remembers sitting in meetings and feeling unqualified at times, surrounded by information and decisions she was still learning to understand.
But she also saw that as the point.
It was a room worth being in.
Serving on city council gave her a clearer view of how communities function and how many pieces have to come together for even small cities to operate. When she and her family moved, she had to give up her term, but she has continued looking for new ways to get involved.
For Rahe, civic involvement is not just about résumé building. It is also about example.
She and her husband, Chase, have two children, Everly and Asher. Rahe wants them to grow up seeing involvement as a normal part of life.
“I want my children to look at me and be like, our mom’s really involved,” she said.
Choosing Where to Put Her Heart
Rahe’s advice to other young professionals is straightforward: show up, meet people, and try things. But she also believes in being intentional.
In high school, she was involved in almost everything. As an adult, she has learned that more is not always better.
“Find one or two, maybe three things to put your heart into,” she said.
Kaelyn’s story reflects a quieter but important kind of investment. It shows up in the time she gives, the questions she asks, the groups she helps bring together, and the civic roles she has been willing to step into before feeling fully ready. It is the kind of investment that strengthens a community from the inside out.
In a region where the next generation of leadership will matter more every year, that kind of investment deserves attention.
Because communities are not only shaped by the people already at the top.
They are also shaped by the people willing to step into the room, raise their hand, and start building before anyone asks them to.