EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT
Name: Lyndsey Blagrave
Title: Associate
Location: Austin, TX
Bio: I was raised under Friday night lights in the rich “oil country” of Midland, Texas. Immediately after graduating from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, I landed my first job working on Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, organizing a ground game that contributed to Cruz’s historic Iowa Caucus win. I traveled all over the country with the campaign filling a number of roles that included working with press, surrogates, events, and political operations. When the campaign ended, I moved to Washington, DC, taught myself to code and began working for a data science firm where I gained experience in polling and research methods and voter data analysis. Two years later, I moved back to Texas to begin my career at Axiom Strategies.
What you do at Axiom/how you serve our clients: My day-to-day runs the gamut from crafting campaign messaging, cleaning and analyzing voter data, digging into background on an individual or issue, and driving campaign operations forward, all while keeping all members of the team on the same page. At a high level, my role is to assist our general consultants in guiding campaigns to victory.
Fun fact: While in Iowa, I was tasked with building a Ted Cruz booth for a Halloween fall festival – one that every 2016 presidential candidate would attend. It was a big deal. I built a version of a haunted house that included Obamacare, a zombie-spin on common core, and a room with floating eyeballs representing government overreach and a masked member of the “Washington Cartel” greedily counting his money.
What lessons you have learned from previous campaign cycles: So many things…yard signs don’t vote; neither do billboards. Sometimes you get lucky and an opportunity falls in your lap, but usually you have to make your own luck. And to those who want to get into a career in politics, get used to saying yes when it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable; it will take you far!