At this week's Round Table, Kenisha, Maya, and Skyla spoke with Chris Piedmont of Slide Nine, a communications, public relations, and digital marketing agency that focuses on creating stories that shift perception and move people to action. Chris himself was moved to action in 2019 when he took time off from the PR world to join Pete Buttigieg's history-making presidential campaign. We talked in depth about the high stakes world of campaigns. Having grown up in Charleston, South Carolina with a passion for politics AND communications, he had an existential crisis about which track to pursue: PR or politics. He chose business figuring he could always go back to politics and, after the 2016 election, he realized he HAD to be more involved. He kept a watchful eye on all the candidates in 2018 and, after the CNN town hall where Pete proved how strong a communicator he was and made a progressive splash, Chris realized Pete was his guy, which was confirmed after reading his book. He decided to focus on Pete’s South Carolina campaign, did some good natured stalking and networking, and secured a job as an organizer, helming two districts the size of Rhode Island. Chris was the boots on the ground, and his public relations experience helped a LOT as a big part of organizing is networking,developing trust and credibility right away, looking for the influencers who have impact and can help build scale, and getting the candidate’s messages out there. Chris described his work on the campaign as some of the most engaging, satisfying, and EXHAUSTING experiences of his life, tinged with a life or death feeling each day. He came to feel that volunteers and women are the lifeblood of democracy in this country. Having lived in South Carolina pre DOMA being struck down and pre gay marriage, Chris noted that coming back to a conservative community and knocking on people’s doors on behalf of the first openly out presidential candidate was deeply healing. Now several years out and back in the PR world, Chris shared that at the end of the day, there’s nothing like getting someone to pull the lever for Pete. Chris’ energy is infectious and we hope it will inspire YOU to engage in campaign work. Thanks for listening!
