Donna Brazile

Veteran Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile is an adjunct professor, author, syndicated columnist, television political commentator, former Vice Chair for Civic Engagement and Voter Participation at the Democratic National Committee, and the former Chair of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute. Recently, she served as Interim Chair of the Democratic National Committee, a role which she assumed shortly before the start of the historic 2016 Democratic National Convention which nominated Secretary Hillary Clinton for President. She is also the author of the best-selling memoir Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics and an on-air contributor to ABC, where she regularly appears on This Week. Since 2000, Brazile has lectured at over 190 colleges and universities across the country. She is a contributor to Essence Magazine’s 2016 coverage and O, The Oprah magazine, and has made three cameo appearances on CBS’s The Good Wife, and twice on Netflix’s House of Cards. She recently appeared on BET’s Being Mary Jane. After all, acting, as she will say, is the key to success in politics.

Brazile was named in O magazine’s first-ever list of 20 “remarkable visionaries,” and Washingtonian magazine named her among its “100 Most Powerful Women,” while Essence magazine listed her as one of the “Top 50 Women in America.” Brazile also received the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s highest award for political achievement. Aside from working for the full recovery of her native New Orleans, Brazile’s passion is encouraging young people to vote, working within the political system in order to strengthen it, and running for public office. In her presentations, she addresses our current political environment, hot-topic legislation, campaigns, and voting.

Political Beginnings. Brazile began her political career at the age of nine when she worked to elect a City Council candidate who had promised to build a playground in her neighborhood. The candidate won, the swing sets was installed, and a lifelong passion for politics was ignited. Four decades and innumerable state and local campaigns later, Brazile has worked on every presidential campaign from 1976 through 2000, when she served as campaign manager for former Vice President Al Gore, becoming the first African-American woman to manage a presidential campaign.

She is currently on the board of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, the National Democratic Institute, the National Institute for Civil Discourse, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund, Inc. She also serves as co-chair for Democrats for Public Education.

Working for Louisiana. A native of New Orleans, Brazile was appointed by former Governor Kathleen Blanco to serve on the Louisiana Recovery Board to work for the rebuilding of the state and to advocate for the Gulf recovery on the national stage. Brazile was recently appointed by New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu to serve on the Tricenntinal Commission. She is the proud recipient of honorary doctorate degrees from Louisiana State University, North Carolina A&T State University, Grambling State University, Morehouse School of Medicine, Northeastern Illinois University, Thomas Jefferson University, and Xavier University of Louisiana. Brazile is also the founder and managing director of Brazile & Associates LLC.