I Attended My First White House Briefing…

Entrepreneurship / By

On Thursday, I had the opportunity to attend my first White House Policy Briefing.

Every politico’s dream- whether Democrat or Republican, conservative or progressive- is to visit the White House in some capacity. Honestly, I never envisioned myself visiting it ever. Though I’ve worked in politics as an activist, blogger, and now consultant, I’ve never felt the need to stick my neck out to go—unless good opportunities come my way.

Last week, such an opportunity presented itself and I couldn’t refuse.

And while I’m not the most overt public Trump supporter, I’m generally supportive of his administration’s policies and wanted to learn more about policies affecting women. I think even those who are Never Trump, if afforded a chance to attend the White House, should. They appear open-minded and willing to hear all sides, contrary to media reports.

I have associates in young conservative and libertarian circles here in D.C. who are less supportive of the administration’s efforts who’ve gone to events and praised them for making opportunities accessible to all.

The policy briefing was held in conjunction with Women for America First and my old workplace, Leadership Institute, which jointly held their Women’s Bootcamp event in Washington, D.C., this week. The bootcamp began with a training session at the Willard Hotel in downtown Washington, followed by the White House Policy Briefing.

My former colleague Dena gave an excellent presentation called “K.I.S.S. T.H.E.M” on public relations and I took away some new information from it. It appeared the 150 or so other women—plus men—in attendance enjoyed the presentation too.

The lecture was followed by panel discussion featuring three women—including Women for America First president Amy Kremer, who was a big fixture in the TEA Party Movement way back in the day.

After we took a break for lunch, it was off to the White House we go. After going through security, we entered the Eisenhower Office Building into the briefing room to hear from three female staffers who play pivotal roles in formulating and influencing women’s policies under the Trump Administration.

I was able to ask one of Ivanka Trump’s advisors a question about any policies the administration is pursuing and promoting to encourage more self-employed/sole proprietorship among Millennials. I got a more generic answer than I was hoping for on the subject of innovation, but appreciated her taking my question.

Here are some pictures from the event:

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Attended my first @whitehouse briefing today. ✔️ Thank you to my old workplace @leadershipinstitute and @womenforamericafirst for the opportunity. The theme of this #WhiteHousePolicy Briefing centered around women’s issues and policies being pursued by @realdonaldtrump , @vp, and their administration. I was able to ask one of the speakers, an advisor to @ivankatrump, what policies they’re pursuing to encourage more people—especially Millennial women—to become self-employed in this gig economy and how deregulation can streamline and spur more opportunities. That was cool too! I will say this: regardless of what you think about the Trump Administration, it’s hard to deny they are very accessible and approachable. I appreciated the opportunity to visit today. Thank you especially to @giovannapence for your help, and to @amykremer and @kyliejanekremer for organizing such a lovely ladies bootcamp event. • • • #maga #kag #whitehouse #womensissues #womenvote #publicpolicy #womenempowerment #womensupportingwomen #womeninbusiness #trump #moverandshaker #trump2020 #keepamericagreat #bipartisan #politics #dcliving #womenforamericafirst #discussion #dialogue #commonground #conservative #makeamericagreatagain #letsgettowork #economicdevelopment #economicfreedom #innovation #womenbusinessowners #paidleave #womenleaders #womeninbusiness

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Thank you to Amy Kremer and WFAF for organizing this event and to Leadership Institute for first alerting me about it.

I’ll continue to document any events like this here on my business blog…

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