Welp. We’re on the other side.

Last I wrote to you, we were all awaiting the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. That result has now hit us – and, working in the social impact sector, I’ve yet to hear it land as welcome news.

In or out of the sector, most people I know are processing. How this outcome came to be. How strong the message is that, across the United States, we don’t all hold the same lines of (in)tolerance for misogyny, ethnonationalism, and hate.

And so many of us are realizing how intensely we’d hoped for – and counted on – a positive new start to bolster our energy and initiatives.

For our community of professional social changemakers, this might be a natural moment to reassess our time and efforts. Especially for those who don’t sit in overtly political roles or spaces day after day, it could be time to think about the interplay between work with culture and communities and the realities of political power even more critically than we have before, and ponder where we can serve both.

Long before this election outcome, I wondered about this myself. Eager to learn from people who had seen both private and political changemaking, I was excited to put together Episode 8 of the Issue Space podcast, ✨From the Office to the Hill: Working Across Politics, Government, & Impact ✨.

Recorded in the weeks before the election, this conversation examines the role of iIn this episode recorded in late October, we look back on the impact careers and origin stories of Air Force veteran, program officer, and nonprofit executive turned B-corp founder Natika Washington and political organizer, campaigner, and impact org founder Jessy Tolkan – two women who haven’t shied away from taking seats at the tables of political power.

With stories as down-to-earth as they are inspiring, Natika and Jessy offer perspective and possibility in a moment when we all could surely use just that.

Watch below or listen to the episode: To hear this episode and explore others, find the Issue Space podcast on Apple, Spotify, and these platforms. Please consider following, sharing, and dropping a review if the content moves you!

A final thought from you:

As we’ve named, we are all figuring out what we think, how we feel, and what we’ll do next in this moment. I wanted to take a pulse check –

Until next time,

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