As Kyna Iman walks down the hallways of the state Capitol building, she can hardly take three steps before greeting someone.

Kyna knows everyone in Jefferson City.

She’s been around Missouri’s government for almost two decades, lobbying for special interest groups across the state.

“I guess I just have politics in the blood,” she said.

Her political thirst began when she was a young child and her father was sheriff of Chariton County. During his term, her family home was center to several political events.

While exploring her interest in politics, Kyna interned with several Capitol lobbyists. She enjoys working with politicians but would never want to be one.

“The way I see it, I have a say in 197 voices as a lobbyist,” Kyna said.

“I admire them greatly, but I wouldn’t want to do it; there’s too much pressure.

“I think I would have more of an impact this way than if I was a legislator.”

Kyna is also the top government consultant for Missouri Southern. She is one of the key instruments in passing the College’s name changed to a university.

Besides Southern, Kyna consults for seven other clients, including Missouri Citizens for the Arts. Working with the Arts led Kyna to meet Vivian León, College President Julio León’s wife.

Kyna attained the job as Southern’s lobbyist after one of her good friends left the position. She was hired in 1999.

Southern currently has two lobbyists. The other consultant is Gary Burton, former state representative for Joplin.

“She’s tremendously effective with lots of experience and very good relations with both Republicans and Democrats,” León said. “We’re really very pleased with the work she does.”

Originally from the small northern Missouri town of Salisbury, population 1,500, Kyna now has a permanent address in St. Louis. During session (January to May) she lives in an apartment in Jefferson City.

She began her college career as a communications major at William Woods University in Fulton, where she was student body president. She went on to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in English communications.  

“To be successful in this business, you have to be here round the clock,” Kyna said. “I just don’t dare step out of the building. Being here makes all the difference in the world.

“My friends learned real quick not to call me between January and May.”

Kyna recently stayed late at the Capitol for meetings, even though the items scheduled didn’t seem to involve any of her interests. It turned out that an item popped up that would greatly affect one of her clients, so since she was there, she was able to draft an amendment and fix the problem before it was passed.

A lobbyist’s job is to convince lawmakers to support certain bills.

“When you pass something, you feel like you’ve really accomplished something for the state,” she said.  

When support for a particular bill is positive, another part of a lobbyist’s job is to make sure that bill stays “clean.” As legislation travels through the process, groups may seek a bill that is traveling faster than their own and try to attach to it. This, in turn, may cause the bill that is moving rather swiftly through the House and the Senate to be “killed,” or not passed.

“It’s all about compromise,” Kyna said.

“If you can’t do that, then you’re in the wrong business.”

Another aspect of her job is patience. She dislikes the part of her job that causes her to have to wait for her interest in a hearing or committee meeting.

“You hurry up and get there, and then you have to wait and see,” she said.

For Kyna, being successful at her job doesn’t rely on buying lawmakers dinners or throwing them lavish parties.

One of the preconceived notions about lobbyists, she said, is that all they do is go out for dinner and drinks.  

“I take lobbying from the grassroots level,” she said.

One way Kyna convinces lawmakers to agree is by visiting their districts and recruiting people there to talk to their legislators about the issue.

“E-mail has made it a lot easier to grow that grassroots network and contact people,” she said.

Kyna is a registered lobbyist, which means she’s not allowed to go onto the House or the Senate floor. Since legislators spend many hours inside their chambers, lobbyists had to find a way to reach them even when they have convened. The lobbyist lingo is “working the door.”

This means that the lobbyist asks the doorman to find the legislator that he or she needs to speak with, and then the lawmaker will come out into the hall to confer with the lobbyist.

The hall outside the chamber doors is called the “lobby,” which eventually inspired the profession’s name.

Although each lobbyist represents certain interest groups, Kyna said they work together to help each other out.

Despite the sometimes-tense atmosphere at the Capitol, people still have time for a few laughs. This lobbyist’s first name is one of the standing jokes in Jefferson City.

“I get all the ‘kinda’ jokes,” she said. “Like ‘It’s Kyna hot in here.'”

Although her name is unusual, some have found it even more interesting when paired up to some other lawmaker’s name.

“Some joke and say it would be funny if I would have married Sen. Chuck Gross (R-St. Charles),” she said.

“Then my name would have been Kyna Gross.” 

Lobbying may be one of those jobs that make a person live to work instead of work to live. This job wouldn’t suit some, but for Kyna, she wouldn’t have it any other way.