Congressional Spotlight Interview Series with Destiny Kayla Brown

This week, we spoke to Destiny Kayla Brown, Communications Manager for the Office of Representative Delia C. Ramirez.

Can you tell me about your career path that you’ve taken that’s led you to where you are now?

Back in late 2017, my senior year of high school, I took an interest in Beto O’Rourke’s campaign for Senate, attending his rally in my hometown Mesquite, TX. His campaign largely inspired my passion for politics, to the point where I began majoring in Political Science at Franklin University Switzerland the following year.

During my senior year of undergrad, I spent an endless amount of time researching internships and organizations that would be willing to hire me to gain working political experience, and eventually I earned a Press Internship on the current Assistant Leader, Rep. Joe Neguse’s, DC team. With graduation on the brink, I could not have been anymore thrilled.

After this internship, I earned a role in DC government as a Press Assistant. Here I learned a tremendous amount on cultivating and maintaining relationships with press, pitching stories, drafting memos, press event staffing, and more. This role truly helped in developing my government-press knowledge.

Now I am a Communications Manager in the Office of Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (IL-03), and I feel extremely blessed to be able to integrate my passion for politics and writing into my everyday life. Here I primarily create social media content, including copy, graphic design, and drafting press releases, talking points, remarks, memos, etc. for the office. I have learned a tremendous amount about varying congressional processes, and about Hill culture.

Which specific policy areas or legislative issues are you most passionate about, and how do you stay informed and engaged in those areas?

I am incredibly passionate about seeing more Black women in politics! I hope to be able to work for more Black women politicians in the future and be able to help us gain seats in governing spaces at all levels. The fundraising barriers, intense scrutiny of physical appearance, and unique varying obstacles this intersectional group faces deserve more attention.

International relations also has significant interest for me; I would love to be able to work in IR in some capacity. Working on the Hill in communications means being incredibly entrenched in global news more frequently, and this news improves understanding of not only international topics, but domestic as well.