Back in February I visited my mother, who lives in Pennsylvania, which is also the state I grew up in, and where my family lived for most of my children’s younger years. I have many fond memories and feelings associated …
Tag: Politics
Getting past the anger impasse
I’ve been thinking a lot about how to move forward after the November 2024 election results, both personally and professionally. The question that’s come up repeatedly for me is whether, now that Trump has been sentenced in the hush-money case …
Making the stakes feel real
After nearly three decades working in communications and narrative in the social sector, I now have a confession to make: I did not, actually, arrive at this career through an inborn passion for social change and impact and doing good. …
Thoughts about the narrative turnaround of Biden/Harris
The way I’ve talked about narrative change in the past, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was kind of a lengthy, drawn-out process. If I’m working on a narrative strategy project with a client, for example, there’s usually some type …
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Messaging about equity and racial justice: Part II
A few years ago, I wrote a piece about messaging on equity and racial justice. As a freelance writer and communications strategist, at that time I was getting asked to write about organization- and sector-wide efforts to center racial equity …
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The importance of reflective capacity
The other day, I was doing an interview for one of the kabillion case studies I signed up for this year* and the person I was interviewing, who struck me as a lovely, thoughtful person, used a term called “reflective …
When communicating less is better
It is true that communications is my livelihood, and that I’ve made an entire career out of helping organizations communicate. The term “communications” covers a lot of things, so let me be more specific: I help organizations talk about who …
Help more women lead
I admire Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the U.S. representative for New York’s 14th district in Congress, very much. I don’t agree with all of her policy positions, many of which feel difficult to achieve on a practical level, but I believe that …
Messaging’s never not hard
Earlier this month, the New York Times published an article with the headline: For C.D.C.’s Walensky, A Steep Learning Curve on Messaging. The article outlined how Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has …
Getting past the anger
In Myers-Briggs lexicon, I’m an ENTJ—a decisive strategist, someone who you want on your team to get shit done, and maybe even to lead the team, but someone who has to be mindful of ensuring that other voices are heard …