7 Questions

Gender equality matters.  Susan Markham and Stephenie Foster are the founders of Smash Strategies, a firm that provides strategic advice on gender equality and women’s leadership. Susan comes from a background of empowering women to participate in politics both in the U.S. and abroad, recruiting and training women candidates, and supporting the aspirations of thousands of women to be equal and active partners in leading democratic societies.

Nathaniel Pearlman hosts The Great Battlefield Podcast where he talks to political entrepreneurs and other leaders in the world of progressive politics. He also founded Graphicacy, a company that helps organizations present their data in informative and persuasive ways; Timeplots which sells informative graphic products; Leverfund, a nonprofit fighting poverty in the DC area; and, NGP Software (now NGP VAN), which provides much of the Democratic Party’s technology for fundraising compliance and voter engagement. Nathaniel Pearlman served as the chief technology officer for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. We chatted with him recently.

Kelly Dietrich is the founder and CEO of the National Democratic Training Committee, the largest organization in the country singularly focused on providing free campaign training for Democratic candidates, staff, and local leaders. He’s spent more than twenty years in Democratic politics working campaigns all across the country at every level of government. His specialty is new campaign creation, strategy, and fundraising. After getting his start on a congressional campaign in Kansas in 1997, Kelly went on to work and advise dozens of candidates for U.S House, Senate, governor, mayor, and more.

Political campaign operations consultant Claire Stein-Ross is the principal of CSR Operations, a consulting firm that helps organizations and political campaigns run more efficiently. During the 2018 election cycle, Claire served as the Operations Director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s independent expenditure program. Her background includes five years of experience in Senator Martin Heinrich’s office, serving as a fundraiser for the Heinrich campaign, and conducting public opinion research at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. We chatted with Claire Stein-Ross about her approach to operations in the realm of campaigns and beyond.

Deno Seder is an expert in political advertising and crafting advocacy and political videos. He has worked with candidates across all levels of government, for various advocacy groups, and on ballot measure campaigns. From creating video ads urging voters not to cast a ballot for Donald Trump to aiding in the effort to ban Greyhound dog racing in Florida, Deno has a wide array of experiences in the political space.

Eric Schnure is a former speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore who has been a freelance writer and communications consultant for over 20 years. Eric has spent his career helping elected officials, business and nonprofit executives, and entertainers hone their public speaking. He is known for incorporating humor into his speechwriting which led him to cofound the Humor Cabinet, a communications consulting firm.

EveryAction offers a suite of digital, fundraising, and organizing tools for nonprofits all in one unified platform. In this 7 questions interview they talk about the exciting changes they are making to their platform in the new product roadmap and how nonprofits can better use digital tools to achieve their goals. 

Joshua Habursky is the Founder and Chairman of the Grassroots Professional Network (GPN), an organization that helps associations, corporations, and government agencies develop skills in the world of grassroots advocacy. Joshua is also an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management and specializes in advocacy communications. 

Lewis Granofsky is a successful and experienced political and grassroots organizer, and a partner at FieldWorks. He has extensive field experience managing ballot initiatives, community-based marketing programs, canvassing, and activist recruitment.

Zvi Band is the co-founder and CEO of Contactually, a CRM that empowers professionals to build authentic and lasting relationships. Zvi is an engineer, an entrepreneur, a developer, and a strategist based in DC. He has been named a Washingtonian Tech Titan three times and has been featured in the New York Times and the Washington Post. Zvi Band's recently published book, Success Is in Your Sphere, dives into the importance of deepening the relationships within your network.

BallotReady is an online voter guide for local, state and national races. This week, we interviewed Alex Niemczewski to discuss how BallotReady can be used to amp up your GOTV campaign strategy.