Trust Over Control: What Local Wins and Community Conversations are Teaching Us
This month, we’re raising a glass to community -- online, offline, and on the ballot. From happy hours to down-ballot initiatives, here’s what’s moving us.
June is here, and with it comes celebration, reflection, and reconnection. As an LGBTQ-led team, Pride Month is more than a moment, it’s a mindset that shapes how we show up in our work every day. This edition of Influencer Impact brings you a new podcast episode on local storytelling, Nicole’s powerful takeaway from the AAPC Pollie Awards, and an invite to gather in DC with fellow digital organizers.
Plus, Ryan rings in AI Slop Summer with everything you need to know from May’s platform shakeups. Let’s dig in.
🥂 Save the Date: DC Happy Hour — June 26th 🥂
As an LGBTQ-led team, this month isn’t just a celebration, it’s a reflection of how we show up year-round. This Pride Month, we’re heading to DC to reconnect with the people who keep this work moving forward.
Join us on Wednesday, June 26th from 5:00 to 7:00pm for a free, casual happy hour with friends, collaborators, and fellow digital organizers. We’ll have good drinks and even better company.
While the event is free to attend (of course!), we’ll also be raising funds for SMYAL, a DC-based organization doing incredible work to empower LGBTQ youth and build a more inclusive future.
RSVP now and block your calendar. We’d love to see you there!
🎧 New Podcast Episode: Authenticity Wins Down Ballot
The latest episode of Influencer Impact is live. This time, we sat down with our friends at Swell to talk about what it takes to move hearts and minds around local issues. From school board initiatives to housing measures, down-ballot wins often come down to trust, and trust comes from real community members.
We dig into how Swell brings authenticity into their creative process, what makes a local narrative land, and how we can all think bigger about influence beyond the top of the ticket.
💡AAPC Pollie Awards Conference Takeaways: The Right’s Influencer Playbook
By Nicole Dunger, Director of Partnerships
While we were honored to take home two Pollie Awards this year, one of the most thought-provoking moments happened during a panel on influencer strategy featuring representatives tied to the Trump administration.
What stood out wasn’t just their tactics, but their mindset. They described an approach that embraced flexibility and trusted their messengers. They didn’t demand perfect alignment. They weren’t overly cautious about tone or pushback. And they prioritized momentum over message control.
For better or worse, that strategy is working. Their content travels further and resonates more and not necessarily because it’s more compelling, but because it’s more responsive to how people actually consume media.
Influence isn’t just about values. It’s also about permission. Are we willing to let trusted messengers speak in ways that may feel imperfect, but reach the people we’re trying to move?
It was a reminder that Democrats could learn a lot from this posture. We tend to be more careful, more values-driven, which does matter. However, in today’s media environment, we need to stop shaping content around what we want audiences to hear, and start designing it around what they actually want to see.
Influence isn’t just about values. It’s also about permission. Are we willing to let trusted messengers speak in ways that may feel imperfect, but reach the people we’re trying to move?
This isn’t a call to abandon our values. It’s a call to trust people with them.
We’ve been thinking about what it would look like to hold onto our values while loosening our grip. What would it take to lead with trust, even if it means losing a bit of control? Where are the real risks and where are we just playing it too safe?
If you’re wrestling with these same questions, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Reply here, shoot us a DM, or come find us in DC on June 26th.
And who would we be if we did take a moment to brag about our Pollie Award Wins?
🤔 Looking to Read Some More?
In Monday’s The Month In Digital, Ryan writes in from Ocean City, Maryland, kicking off Pride Month and declaring the official start of AI Slop Summer. He dives into May’s biggest shifts across platforms and strategies, from Meta’s “infinite creative” vision to TikTok’s evolving ad products and GenAI’s growing influence on everything from SEO to influencer marketing. Plus: new Instagram stats, YouTube tips, and a reminder that even in the age of AI-generated nonsense, a good selfie still goes a long way.