This week in the GAINiverse
GAINing & Celebrating Democracy, Feminist Leadership, and Gun Control Champions
Over the past year, I’ve been writing the “topper” for the GAIN Power weekly newsletters. Through our work on Jobs That Are Left Substack, I love this platform. I find myself on Substack and LinkedIn more than other social platforms. These are where I’m sharing and enjoying other’s thought leadership most. I have a lot of thoughts about our work in Democratic and progressive politics. I also have decades of experience working on democracy and governance globally and many feelings about our roles as global citizens. I have a lot of observations about political institutions, government, business, and nonprofits/civil society. My work straddles these worlds, which often feel siloed. My focus on this substack is to bring more of it together, to get something off my chest, but mostly to focus on the amazing world I get to live in and want others to be part of. I want to celebrate and elevate changemakers and champions powering progressive politics and democracy - and share more about the work that fuels my passion every day.
GAIN Power is a big part of my life - but it has never been my day job. I’m a founding partner at Amplify Power, a culturally competent, cutting-edge creative communications firm focusing on print, direct mail, and digital voter contact. I’m also the founder of Global GAIN, a nonprofit working to link democracy professionals, activists, and gender equality leaders and promote women-led initiatives and democracy champions globally. One of our projects is spinning off and becoming its own local NGO in Rwanda called Women GAIN. I’m working hard to raise money to make sure it gets formal recognition and registration. You can read more about it here. We’re working on plans to link some of our work at GAIN Power and Global GAIN, focusing on our domestic politics and democracy work in the US. This project will be called GAIN Talent or Democracy GAIN - TBD. All of this led my friend Nse Ufot - to dub my life the GAINivsere, so I’ll write my weekly updates there - and share parts of them here.
I’m sharing this to explain better “what I do” but also because I want GAIN Power to be a marketing platform and source of political thought leadership, stories, and intelligence about our work and a place for others to share theirs.
I want to offer some insights and advice to help more people engage and do this work better, promote my and allied organizations’ work, and lift up news, stories, events, and more. GAIN Power is dedicated to networking, marketing, and celebrating the people and organizations powering progressive politics through our career center, events, awards, and content platforms. Our political pages are created to help campaigns, nonprofits, consulting firms, freelancers, vendors, and tech companies showcase and market their programs, products, and services. We offered many ways to search them and lift women and minority-owned firms. We are collaborators, not competitors with anyone.
My work has always focused on democracy - and, more broadly, campaigns, legislative and electoral elections, and issue/policy advocacy. This work has brought me to 26 countries, and I’ve worked in one way or another in all 50 states, so I know a thing or two about it. As a Democratic strategist, progressive, feminist anti-racist so trust me I know our democracy is imperfect - and not representative or equitable as I would like it to be. Many have sought to undermine it since this country was birthed. Despite my experiences, until just a few years ago, I took our U.S. democracy for granted and assumed it was stable. That is no longer true.
While we’ve made progress, democracy is still at risk. This is not hyperbole; it’s a simple truth — a simple truth. I’ve made the defense and protection and preservation of American democracy the central issue of my presidency. From the speech I made at Gettysburg, an Inaugural Address, to the anniversary of the June 6th insurrection — or January 6th insurrection, to Independence Hall in Philadelphia — to the speech I made at Union Station in Washington, I’ve spoken about the danger of election denialism, political violence, and the battle for the soul of America. - President Joe Biden, September 28th, 2023 Remarks by President Biden Honoring the Legacy of Senator John McCain and the Work We Must Do Together to Strengthen Our Democracy
If you missed President Biden’s speech on Democracy in Arizona honoring Senator. John McCain yesterday, please watch it or read it.
This morning, we lost the forever iconic Senator Diane Finestein. Much of the news is already focused on who will succeed her. but I want to take a moment to focus on her service. No member is perfect or aligned on every issue, but Senator Feinstein was transformative and broke many barriers for all women. The number of firsts on her list of accomplishments is too long to list here. Still, I want to recognize and appreciate her, especially for her leadership in gun control and authorizing the Federal Assault Weapons ban.
Speaking of service and transformational leadership, Democrats owe a debt of gratitude to Jessica Post, who I know has a long, impactful career ahead of her. Jessica’s term as DLCC President has been nothing short of remarkable. The news that she is stepping down as President of the DLCC made me a bit sad, but is also a perfect example of what women leaders like Jessica are simply the best. Passing the baton and not just holding onto power should be recognized as one of the greatest examples of Powerful Leadership. I’ve long been a huge Jessica Post fangirl, and her decision to step down only solidified my feelings about her brilliance. I can’t wait to see what she does next!
Post is the longest-serving woman in charge of a major Democratic campaign committee. Since 2016, the percentage of women serving in state legislatures has increased from 24 percent to 33 percent, according to the Center for Women and American Politics at Rutgers University, and about two-thirds of women state lawmakers are Democrats. Nearly 100 women now serve in state legislative leadership, most of them Democrats.
Post said one of her goals was to increase the diversity of those serving in state legislatures and make legislatures more representative. from Grace Panetta and The 19th
So much more is on my mind this week. A few events I want to celebrate include:
Kudos to the White House and Vice President Kamala Harris for Launching the White House Office of Gun Violence Protection. This new initiative has brought in some of the most talented leaders on the issue. I’m especially excited to see my friend Greg Jackson most recently from the Community Justice Action Fund.
More Biden’s amazing leadership and support of organized labor. His trip to Detroit to join the UAW strike picket line was historic and important.
Offer career and business advice to people who want to build careers supporting our democracy. I hope more of my colleagues do this because it is really important for us to all support each other in our journey to protect and promote our democracy.
Being with my Amplify Power partners for the first time in DC - and seeing many more friends at the happy hour we’re hosting in a few hours. If you’re reading this and in DC, join us at the brig. Click the photo to see the event details.