Danielle Crockett

I'm from a super rural community where I live on a farm now, though I went to New York City for school and then moved back. My journey started when I was a senior in school working on a commercial for USAID about international disaster relief. I shot it all in my parents' garage with lamps from Lowe's, made stop-motion origami dollars, and got a DJ friend to narrate it. They loved it and made a full national campaign out of it - it even aired on the Super Bowl. That experience showed me I love working in policy because it's grounded in reality, not like selling toothpaste. As manager of creative content for 4 years, I focused on climate policy with an undercurrent on racial justice. We made websites for marginalized communities being redlined and steamrolled by pollution in their areas, people who are geopolitically trapped. We got funding and resources to help about 40 frontline organizations build credible presences online, and it actually worked. It was beautiful to be in community with these people and meet them face-to-face. I work with brilliant people who want to make huge change through communication, and that's the most rewarding thing in the world.