About Greg S. Held
Based in rural America, Cherokee, Iowa, Greg S. Held is an entrepreneur, writer, broadcaster, and advocate for local economic independence whose work has spanned agriculture, health benefits, early internet commerce, media, and rural development.
Greg has spent much of his life exploring a central question: how free people remain free in a world where political, corporate, and technological power are increasingly centralized.
His work is rooted in rural American life, Christian faith, and a deep belief that strong families, local economies, moral responsibility, and liberty of conscience remain essential to the future of the nation.
"Freedom may be written into law, but it must also live in the human soul."
Early Career and the Birth of an Internet Vision
Greg began his professional life in the agricultural business and later built a successful national health benefits company. He then entered the technology sector as an executive at the computer giant Gateway during the rise of personal computing.
During one executive meeting, the idea was raised that computers might someday communicate directly with one another. Many in the room laughed at the possibility. Greg did not. In that moment, he saw the future.
That realization led him to found Layeway.com, a pioneering internet dot-com company that became a leader in financial transactions and international money transfers on the emerging commercial internet.
Greg S. Held discussing Layeway.com on CNN during the early years of the commercial internet.
Agriculture, Food Systems, and Rural Independence
After selling his internet business, Greg turned his focus toward another system he believed had been quietly captured by large corporate interests: the American food supply.
He built a national organic food network that included grower and retail operations in Missouri, North Carolina, and Iowa, helping expand access to organic and non-GMO meats through grocery retail outlets.
As part of this effort, he launched the Non-GMO / Antibiotic-Free Initiative, advocating for healthier food systems, seed independence for farmers, and the preservation of local agricultural production in the face of growing corporatization.
Throughout his work, Greg has remained committed to the idea that local production, strong communities, and parallel economic systems are essential if rural America is to thrive again.
Political Activism, Surveillance, and the Defense of Liberty
Greg later became involved in grassroots political activism during the rise of the Tea Party movement, serving as a webmaster and organizer within that movement.
During this period, while living on a mountain retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountains, he experienced more than two years of continuous surveillance by a U.S. intelligence agency. At the same time, he endured a five-year audit by the Internal Revenue Service during the period when conservative organizations were facing federal scrutiny.
These experiences deeply shaped Greg's understanding of the growing intersection between government institutions, corporate power, modern technology, and the erosion of personal liberty.
That experience also became part of the foundation for his writing on conscience, limited government, surveillance, and the moral structure required to preserve freedom.
The Magic Mushroom Hour
Alongside his work in technology, agriculture, and writing, Greg is also the creator and host of The Magic Mushroom Hour, a classic rock radio broadcast inspired by the long-form FM era of the late 1960s and 1970s.
The program features carefully restored and remastered classic and progressive rock presented in uninterrupted musical journeys — a return to the spirit of great radio, high-fidelity listening, and the analog age.
Sometimes mellow, sometimes hard, always commercial-free, the show reflects Greg's lifelong love of music, deep tracks, and the kind of radio experience that once defined American FM broadcasting.
Greg S. Held at the microphone during a live radio broadcast.
Writing, Media, and Current Work
Greg's work and commentary have been featured by CNN, Bloomberg, Yahoo News, and numerous national publications.
He is the creator of the podcast Behind the Illusion and the author of Creating Big Tech, Eradicating Freedom: The Last Piece of the Police State Puzzle.
He is currently writing a new book exploring the Biblical, historical, technological, and political foundations of liberty, along with the modern systems of surveillance and control that increasingly threaten freedom in America.
Much of Greg's current work focuses on developing parallel economic systems designed to revitalize rural communities and restore local economic independence across the United States.
Selected Timeline
- Agriculture: Began his professional career in the agricultural business.
- Health Benefits: Built a successful national health benefits company.
- Gateway: Served as an executive during the rise of the personal computer era.
- Layeway.com: Founded an early dot-com company focused on financial transactions and international money transfers.
- Organic Food Systems: Built a national organic food network with operations in Iowa, Missouri, and North Carolina.
- Food Advocacy: Launched the Non-GMO / Antibiotic-Free Initiative.
- Political Activism: Worked within the Tea Party movement as a webmaster and organizer.
- Broadcasting & Writing: Created The Magic Mushroom Hour, launched Behind the Illusion, and continued writing on liberty and centralized power.
- Current Projects: Developing rural economic initiatives and writing on faith, freedom, surveillance, and decentralization.
Faith, Family, and the Future
At the center of Greg's life is his Christian faith. He seeks to live simply, working to glorify God through his family, his work, and his service to others.
Greg and his wife are the parents of eight children and nineteen grandchildren. Much of his work today is motivated by a simple conviction: that the freedoms once taken for granted in America must remain available to the generations that follow.
He believes that freedom is not merely political. It is moral, personal, and spiritual. It requires truth, conscience, responsibility, and a people willing to remain awake to the systems that would quietly take liberty away.
