It was after making the film “Born in A Ballroom” that Lehmann was first approached to join The Hub’s board. Though she had a basic understanding of boards, she didn’t understand how being part of a board worked or what it meant to be a board member.

“I thought that serving on a board meant that you had a third job or a second job. It’s still a job, don’t get me wrong,” Lehmann recalls about being approached to join The Hub’s board. “I made a film called ‘Born in A Ballroom’ and it celebrates my grandmother but also the community of Helvetia and the way that they, as a community, have come together to hold onto culture and heritage but also celebrate and maintain the village history in the buildings and making sure that children have something that they can be proud of. That movie caught the attention of a good friend of mine, Katie Loudin, and she was already serving on the board at that time and she and Stephanie were trying to recruit me so that’s how that came about.”

Lehmann found herself surrounded by board members and staff members of The Hub who were doing the work in ways that inspired her. She learned how to work smarter and not harder when it came to community development work and has adapted some of the things she has learned to her own life.

“I feel like everyone on the board has been so willing to share and at the same time the staff and executive leadership team at The Hub are very willing to educate you,” Lehmann says. “[The Hub] also taps into the knowledge you have in your industry and I just think that that’s really valuable and helpful.”

As the board chairperson, Lehmann is looking to the future and working to help The Hub navigate into its next era. She understands that there should be a national lens in the work moving forward with the same mission of keeping West Virginia and  West Virginia communities are the heart of the decisions made at the organization.

“What I mean by that is bringing West Virginia, our stories and our people, to a national platform in an honorable and valuable way where we are no longer telling the tired stories that have been told over and over and they are seeing how much we are transforming our own communities with our own hands,” Lehmann elaborates on her vision for The Hub. “That’s where the change is really going to be seen and lasting. If we make this change internally with our state then anyone can do it and we are going to be the best example of that.”

Through it all, Lehmann has remained involved in her filmmaking work and is getting ready to release a new film called ‘O Pioneer.’ The film is a look at three West Virginians: a seamstress, a blacksmith, and a hospital chaplain. These people, Lehmann argues, are modern-day pioneers.

“‘O Pioneer’ is the reckoning of and trying to challenge what it means to be a pioneer through the lens of three West Virginians and these West Virginians are not rocket scientists. They are not politicians,” Lehmann says. “The term is really admired in West Virginia. You’ll find Pioneer Street, Pioneer Drive, Pioneer Camp. So it is a very loved word and I wanted to break down what it means and expose some of the poor choices we’ve made as pioneers in the past in order to redefine what we should be aiming for in the future through these three people who are fantastic and really admirable.”

She continued: “What was proven to me with this film is that the people of West Virginia are our superpower. While the terrain is gorgeous and while we have beautiful rivers and the mountains. Everytime you go into a small little village, you check them out and end up discovering that the people here really are brilliant. They are kind.”

Lehmann is hosting a screening of her film ‘O Pioneer’ on Friday, February 23rd at the Colonial Arts Center in Buckhannon, West Virginia. The film will play after a performance by Tim and Aeliza Hibbs and will be followed by a Q&A.