In the fall of 2004 I was unemployed and stumbling my way around the brand-new-to-me city of Washington, DC. After 6 weeks of wandering aimlessly, I suddenly locked eyes across a conference room with New Media Strategies. Sure it was a little awkward at first. We made glancing eye contact as I nervously shuffled my feet. NMS kept checking their watch and self-consciously twirling their hair. But out of that awkwardness, NMS suddenly popped the question: “I see you worked on Howard Dean’s webteam. They did some pretty innovative stuff right?”
After more than a year at NMS in the world of movies & TV shows, sodas & airlines, NMS approached me in late 2005 and asked me to take the next step in our relationship: they were launching a Public Affairs Practice in March, 2006 and who better to join the team than the “political guy” of the office? Well let me tell you something folks. When you are the “political guy” of the office, and your company suddenly starts hiring insanely talented “political guys” and “political gals” your job suddenly gets a lot more interesting.
Over the last three years, I’ve watched The Public Affairs team grow from a skeleton crew to a team of 14 people with an eclectic mix of personalities, including esteemed bloggers on the left (Not Larry Sabato, NM3), the right (Red State, The Next Right, Political Capital) and everywhere in-between (So Good, Bloggasm, The Electoral Map, Blog P.I.). It is truly the most talented, interesting, diverse and fun group of people I have ever had the honor of working with.
Collectively, the Public Affairs team has decades of experience working on Capitol Hill for Senators and Congressmen, the Presidential Campaigns of Howard Dean, Fred Thompson and John McCain, campaigns for Congress, Senate, Governor and State Representative, as Army Communications soldiers in Baghdad, the White House Writers Group, for pollster and consultant Frank Luntz, as well as media organizations such as PBS, The McLaughlin Group, National Journal and The Hotline. We aren’t just political and policy wonks, we’re social media junkies, gurus and advocates – we believe that amazing things can be learned from, and accomplished though, social media and we aim to share our passion and enthusiasm for this platform with our clients.
The team members have a diverse array of hobbies that include playing the guitar, emphatically rooting for the Redskins, obsessively using Twitter, hunting and fishing, drinking fine wine, blogging and guest column writing, performing stand-up comedy, collecting hot sauces and working with technology start-ups.
I love being informed of the latest news, information and trends developing every hour of every day. But I can’t learn everything on my own, so the New Media Strategies Public Affairs team is my eyes, ears and voice online. Plan and simply, we love what we do. We want to use our skills to take on that role for anyone else interested in exploring, learning from, and engaging with the world of social media.