President Biden has announced that he will run for reelection in 2024. To discuss the announcement, we SPOTLIGHT Christy Setzer. Setzer is the President and Founder of New Heights Communications, a Washington, DC public affairs firm that provides strategic and communications counsel to mission-driven clients. Setzer, a political and communications strategist with more than 20 years’ experience in national politics, crafts hard-hitting strategies that win elections, inform policy and drive the national conversation. Setzer started New Heights in 2010 after more than a decade on campaigns and working for progressive causes. She served as a national spokesperson on the presidential campaigns of Vice President Al Gore, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, and Senator Christopher J. Dodd. She set national communications strategy and directed media relations for the AFL-CIO, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Service Employees International Union. Media includes: The Washington Post, The Hill,The Washington Times, The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, Fox News.
Don Lemon has been fired from CNN and Tucker Carlson has been fired by Fox News. Neither of their respective companies have publicly offered a reason for their dismissals. Meanwhile, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell has stepped down after having an "inappropriate relationship." To discuss, we FEATURE Amy Epstein Gluck. Epstein Gluck is a partner at FisherBroyles and provides employers with daily employment counseling, including HR policies; workplace investigations; organizational culture; wage and hour audits; and navigating #MeToo issues while complying with federal, state, and local (ever-changing) employment laws. She navigates legal issues with an eye toward preventing organizational problems, not just reacting to them. She handles compliance and defense of Title VII, ADA, FMLA, ADEA, and misclassification issues; terminations; and all matters involving people. Epstein Gluck’s current practice areas include business employment law—advising on and drafting employment agreements; handling employment negotiations, severance agreements, noncompete and nondisclosure agreements, discrimination and harassment investigations, “wrongful terminations,” and other EEO matters. Media includes: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Business Insurance, Law360.
Amidst a fourth ceasefire attempt, many people are fleeing Sudan as figthing escalates. Aid workers and diplomats from the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, China and elsewhere are being evacuated while the border into Egypt has long lines as families try to escape. To discuss, we FEATURE Isra Chaker. Chaker is a Syrian-American civil rights activist, humanitarian advocate, and public speaker. She currently serves as a Campaign Strategist at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) where she leads national campaigns on issues including immigrants’ rights, racial justice, and work related to Arab, Middle. Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian (AMEMSA) communities and indigenous people. Previously, Isra has served as the Senior Refugee, Migration and Protection Campaign Lead at one of the leading international NGOs in the world, Oxfam America; where she advocated for vulnerable people such as refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants, and opposes discriminatory policies such as the Muslim Bans. Media includes: Al Jazeera, Reuters, Democracy Now, Vice, CNN, BBC, NPR.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed controls over greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The regulation will be the first attempt to regulate power plants. To discuss, we FEATURE Tamara Toles O'Laughlin. Tamara is an internationally recognized environmental advocate and climate strategist focused on people and the planet. Her niche in environmental work is developing high impact programs and multimedia campaigns to dismantle privilege and increase opportunities for vulnerable populations to access healthy air, clean energy, and a toxic free economy at the local, regional and national level. In June 2021, Tamara was appointed President and CEO of the Environmental Grantmakers Association. Previously, Tamara served as the North America Director at 350.org and 350 Action, where she drove regional strategy in the United States and Canada. As the leader of 350’s programming she led mission critical work and organizational investments to build a multiracial, multi-generational climate movement capable of holding leaders accountable to science and justice. Media includes: Rolling Stone, Truthout, Vox, The Hill, Politico, The Young Turks.
Former Minnesota officer Kimberly Potter has been released from prison after serving 16 months of a two-year sentence. Potter was convicted of two counts of manslaughter after killing Daunte Wright, an unarmed Black man. To discuss, we FEATURE Andrea M. Headley. Headley is a public management, social equity and criminal justice policy scholar. She is an Assistant Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. Her research focuses on policing to understand how organizational, managerial, and individual level factors affect policing services and outcomes, with a keen focus on inequities and disparities. Specific examples of her past work include assessing police-community relations, analyzing dispositional outcomes in citizen complaints, evaluating the effects of race during use of force encounters, as well as evaluating body-worn cameras. She teaches specialized courses on criminal justice policy and generalist courses on public management. Media includes: The Conversation, Dayton Daily News, PBS Newshour, NBC.
A migrant camp across the border from Texas was set on fire on Thursday. The camp held more than 2,000 people. To discuss, we FEATURE Shannon O'Neil. O'Neil is the vice president, deputy director of studies, and Nelson and David Rockefeller senior fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is an expert on Latin America, U.S.-Mexico relations, global trade, corruption, democracy, and immigration. She is the author of "Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, the United States, and the Road Ahead," which analyzes the political, economic, and social transformations Mexico has undergone over the last three decades and why these changes matter for the United States. She also directed CFR’s Independent Task Force on North America: Time for a New Focus, as well as the Independent Task Force on U.S.-Latin America Relations: A New Direction for a New Reality. O’Neil has testified before Congress on U.S. policy toward Mexico and she is a frequent commentator on major television and radio programs. Media includes: The New York Times, Bloomberg, Univision, MSNBC, CNN, BBC.
Controversy over Twitter's blue checkmark continues. Prior to Elon Musk's purchase of the social media app, the blue checkmark was used to verify accounts but has now become a subscription service resulting in many high profile accounts losing their verification. Following the controversy and the #BlocktheBlue campaign, Twitter began reinstating checkmarks to some accounts. To discuss, we FEATURE Shannon Wilkinson. Wilkinson is a nationally recognized expert in online reputation management. Her New York City-based firm Reputation Communications advises CEOs, business leaders, C-Suite executives, VIPs and their organizations on all aspects of reputation and crisis management. She has advised her clients about managing and recovering from online defamation, reputation attacks and damage, #MeToo and related accusations, social media crises, legal issues that play out online, reputation repair, reputation risk assessments, reputation protection, using personal branding as a career-building strategy, Internet law in the U.S., managing Google search results and related issues. Media includes: The Wall Street Journal, Komando on Demand (Kim Komando), Philadelphia Inquirer, NBC’s Today Show, CNBC.
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. To discuss, we FEATURE Dr. Carolyn M. West. West is Professor of Clinical Psychology in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences and affiliate Professor in the Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington. She is a nationally recognized Black feminist scholar who investigates gender-based violence in the lives of African American women, with a focus on domestic violence, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. Dr. West has authored more than 70 academic publications and is editor/contributor of "Violence in the Lives of Black Women: Battered, Black, and Blue" and writer/producer of “Let Me Tell Ya’ll ‘Bout Black Chicks: Images of Black Women in Pornography.” She has taught courses on Sex Crimes and Sexual Violence, Family Violence, and the Psychology of Black Women for more than 30 years. Extensive media experience.
To find more experts gender-based violence, find WMC SheSource's list for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.















