Hi! There are now nearly 3,500 people getting this email every Friday! That’s wild! Most of you are relatively new and maybe don’t know me, so thought I’d take a chance to reintroduce myself and share a few pieces you might have missed.
Unlike most Substacks, this newsletter doesn’t a standalone brand or an overarching theme beyond “stuff I’m interested in.” I kicked it off in January as an effort to (1) turn my brain back on after my second daughter was born, (2) commit to my resolution to make the content I wish to see in the world and (3) have a personal writing project with some accountability.
But as I pulled together what I’ve written, I realized there are some core themes I come back to again and again: politics, leadership, parenthood, books (both the one I wrote recently and the ones I read), and occasional New York stuff.
There is overlap between those, as often I try to connect the dots between the things that interest me. But generally speaking, what you’ll get each week likely falls into a few categories…
Politics
In my dayjob, I’m the cofounder and president of Run for Something, which recruits and supports young leaders running for local office. Prior to starting the org along with Ross Morales Rocketto back in 2017, I worked for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, the Florida governor’s race in 2014, and President Obama’s re-election campaign.
I write pretty regularly entirely in my personal capacity about politics — mostly centered on the Democratic party, since that’s both my particular sphere of influence and my expertise.
The one I go back to over and over again: There is no one simple trick to fix the Democratic Party.
How professional political operatives don’t know shit about shit. (Yes, even me.)
A rant about the establishment and what the Democratic Party even is anymore.
The Democratic Party seems to have forgotten: Voters don’t vote for policies, ads, messages, or door-knocking — they vote for people. Who the candidate is matters.
Relatedly, I answer the question of why Democrats struggle to be authentic — on a personal level, why is it so hard for candidates to just be themselves?
One of my favorites: How Zohran Mamdani’s win, tradwives, and a TikTok trend point to a new MO for candidates seeking to engage gen Z and millennial voters: Answering the question of “what’s the fucking point?”
I suggested a few new stories Democrats could tell: Affordability, what if you were rich, and what if we solved the loneliness crisis?
About working & surviving in politics:
For those seeking to work in politics for a living, I wrote a very practical guide on how to get a job.
And of course: why optimism is core to my work.
My new book, WHEN WE’RE IN CHARGE
Earlier this year, I published my second book, WHEN WE’RE IN CHARGE: The Next Generation’s Guide to Leadership. (I wrote my first book, RUN FOR SOMETHING, back in 2017.)
WHEN WE’RE IN CHARGE is a no-bullshit practical guide to leadership today, as it really is, based on my experience as an executive and that of 130+ leaders I interviewed in depth. It’s not about politics at all! The book captures a ton of themes I talk about in other posts — leadership, social media, our personality-driven attention ecosystem, work/rest balance, parenthood, millennial/gen Z generational divides, and more.
About the book itself:
My complicated feelings around promoting a book when the world is on fire
How I managed to write a whole ass book in just 9 months, while also having an intense dayjob, raising a 1 year old, and being pregnant.
A little about how I felt on pub day (excited! anxious! anti-climactic!)
A bunch of the promo I did in that first week, ICYMI
How it felt not hitting the best-seller list (surprisingly sad! but also proud anyway?)
Parenting broadly & motherhood specifically
I’m a relatively new mom — I had my first daughter in November 2022 and my second in September 2024, so I was briefly living that 2 under 2 life. My girls are magical monsters.
One of my favorite things I’ve ever written: Things I wish I could tell pre-baby me
How I decided when to have kids, inspired by some advice from the late Cecile Richards.
I love being a mom way more than I expected. I think more Democrats and progressive/liberal women should talk about the joys of motherhood, even if it’s also incredibly hard.
Relatedly: Why I love daycare and refuse to feel guilty about it — a stance that’s particularly important to stake out publicly when the GOP is waging war on childcare and pushing women out of the workforce.
New York stuff
I’ve lived in New York City for 10 years now — I moved here to work for Hillary in 2015, stayed, and plan to stay here until I die or get priced out, so I have a deep personal interest in the city and its future.
Back in April, I wrote at length about why non-New Yorkers should care about the mayoral election and how I was thinking about voting at the time.
Fuck Andrew Cuomo.
You may notice that Zohran Mamdani comes up a lot in my writing as he sits in the venn diagram overlap of a ton of my interests (millennials! local politics! the future of the Democratic Party! next-gen leadership! New York! personality-driven politics!) — just to be clear: I don’t work for his campaign. I ranked him third in the primary and am very very excited to cast my ballot for him in November.
The future of leadership, both at work & outside of it
I spent all of 2024 (and much of the last 10 years, tbh) thinking about next-gen leadership life as part of the book writing process — so it continues to consume a decent amount of brainspace. Some of these are pulled from WHEN WE’RE IN CHARGE, others are responses to news stories…
Being a bad boss is a choice — you don’t actually have to treat people like shit if you don’t want to!
How to make space for politics at work, even as it gets harder and harder.
Hot take here: Leaders need to think like influencers and also influencers are a kind of leader.
How it feels to get yelled at online, which is unfortunately part of being a leader these days
Books
I originally started this Substack back in 2020 to compile book recs, which I’d been doing on Instagram for years before. Most weeks I include some book recs at the bottom — occasionally, I compile them for easy review.
Our weekly dinners
Finally: A vast majority of you signed up for this because you read one of two posts I’ve written about the weekly dinners my husband and I host as part of his 2025 new years resolution. ICYMI!
What else do you want to know or read about?
Hit me in the comments with topics you’re interested in thoughts on or questions you have about anything I’ve written on so far.
I’m marinading on pieces about my media diet (why and how in God’s name am I subscribed to nearly 700 substacks??), the online fundraising clusterfuck inside the Democratic Party, and the transition from 1 to 2 kids as we approach my baby’s first birthday — what else do you want to hear from me on?
No other recs - books or links - this week. You’ve got enough reading material!
Pick up a copy of When We’re in Charge in any format you’d like — hardcover, e-book, or audio book (narrated by yours truly) anywhere you get books, including Amazon or Bookshop.org or literally anywhere else. If you have Spotify Premium, you can listen to for free right this very minute.
Another option: Get your book along with an excellent I DO NOT DREAM OF LABOR tote bag at the Crooked Media shop.
The transition from 1 kid to 2 would be interesting to read if comfortable sharing! And i loved the posts on your weekly dinner series so any updates there (maybe at the end of the year) or other community making efforts (the successes and failures!)
Loved reading this all in one place, especially as I start my book journey I liked seeing the draft proposal to the book proposal. Thanks for being so open and for the energy and optimism you put out into the world.