My Personal Manifesto

Sharing what I want out of my life and career

NOTE: I decided on this for the newsletter last Saturday when I was on my way to San Francisco, as I had a feeling that with TrustCon and the potential for Biden to drop out would suck up a ton of my time. Please don’t take that to mean I don’t have thoughts. I have a lot. I wrote a brief post on Threads about the historic nature of how the internet was used for candidates to communicate breaking news, but I will write more in future newsletters. I am processing a lot of aspects of this.

For well over a year now, but especially over the last few months, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want my life and career to look like. I’ve been paying close attention to what gives me versus what drains my energy. I’ve been exploring where I might be doing things because I think that’s what I’m “supposed” to do versus it being something I want to do. I’ve re-evaluated my relationship and needs around money, stability, and love/community. I’ve looked at where I enjoy living and what my ideal daily schedule looks like.

To work through these, I pulled tarot and oracle cards, meditated, journaled, talked to people, and read. When I felt a certain way, I asked myself why I was feeling that way. And, yes, I did a lot of mind mapping with Post-it notes.

Last Friday, I took the time to write down the most honest and vulnerable assessment of who I am at this moment and what I want my life to look like. To finally put it all down on paper was incredibly grounding and energizing. 

I am not making any announcements. There are no huge life changes. But there is clarity on the way forward, a framework for deciding what I say yes to and no to.

When I wrote this, I did not intend to share it in the newsletter. I wanted something to be clear when people asked me what I wanted. However, so many people seem to be asking themselves the same questions that perhaps by my sharing this, it might help others not feel alone and give them some ideas on how to work through these questions themselves.

Plus, I found that once I had this crystalized, I wanted to share it with the world.

Katie’s Personal Manifesto

In 2025, we will be approaching the ten-year anniversary of when things started to shift. While there were political and other shifts in the world before that, there is a distinct vibe shift that occurred in late 2016 following Trump’s surprise win for President, which started the minute he walked down that escalator in June 2015.

Since then, we’ve seen entire industries around information integrity, trust, and safety created and vilified. This hasn’t just been in the tech world but also government, media, academia, and civil society. Words like misinformation and democracy have been politicized. Some platforms are pulling away from politics and news. New technologies like artificial intelligence are changing our information landscape in a way we don’t quite comprehend yet. 

The next five years promise to be, perhaps, even more eventful than the last 10. The combination of geopolitics, rapid technological innovation, and a restructuring of political norms in the United States presents great opportunities and challenges. We, as individuals and the collective, can impact how it all unfolds. We are not left to simply react to it all. But to do so, we must be willing to work off of imperfect information, be comfortable in chaos, pivot quickly, and, most importantly, panic responsibly.

My career has gone through distinct chapters, though all continue to be intertwined like a rope made from individual threads. 

• 2023 - 2010 - Republican Digital Politics (Political Foundation)

• 2011 - 2014 - Early Facebook days (Tech Foundation)

• 2015 - 2021 - Global elections, the advent of working on tech/democracy issues (Elections/Tech Foundation)

• 2021 - 2024 - Preparing for and building up work towards 2024 historic year of elections (Establish self as a thought leader)

• 2025 - 2029 - Advent of AI amongst geopolitical challenges brings new needs in tech/democracy space (Solidify independence and reputation not only as a thought leader about technology and democracy but also as a sought-after counselor for navigating challenges at this intersection)

A new chapter is upon me, and what I want from my life has changed dramatically since I last went through something similar when I decided to leave Facebook. I’ve learned that:

1. It is of the utmost importance to me to have autonomy and the ability to work on projects with various organizations while writing and speaking on what I want.

2. This means I need an environment where I can have the flexibility to move and adapt as I want.

3. I don’t need long-term money. Facebook gave me that. What is important to me is covering my expenses each month while making the most money that I can. I value the freedom to experiment over stability.

4. Learning—and then connecting the dots from those learnings—is important to me, whether through having time to read, travel, attend events, etc.

5. I love writing and speaking publicly. I want to continue growing my newsletter and getting paid subscriptions over $100k. I want to finish the first draft of my book by the end of 2024 and release it sometime in late 2025/early 2026. I want to write my Tired of the Grind novel/TV show idea.

6. I like working across industries, particularly with non-profits and corporate clients. Both stretch my thinking. I wouldn’t mind finding a way to work more with a media entity or even starting my own, where I can help elevate the voices and work of people who need an outlet to do so.

   1. I am excited about and have ideas about projects related to AI and democracy - including developing frameworks for how AI companies should handle political and electoral content. I am also thinking through updated frameworks for how tech platforms should engage with politics and elections.

   2. I also want to help the trust and safety industry continue to grow and mature.

7. Being available to be a leader and mentor people is important to me, but given my other priorities, managing people daily is not something I can do well.

8. I want to travel internationally more. I learn best when I interact with people and see things on the ground, and it's important to me to gain new experiences through travel.

9. I like living in DC and spending weekends on the Eastern Shore. Going home to the cabin in Wisconsin recharges me in a way no where else does. I do not like San Fran or NYC, but it is okay to go for a few days for work.

10. I need more time alone than I used to to process things and recharge. I need more sleep, to drink less, and to get more exercise. I am on weight loss medication in hopes of improving my health.

11. My ideal schedule is quiet mornings to read, write, and reflect. Afternoons are best for meetings, and I like catching up with people over drinks (but I also need not to overschedule myself.)

12. My family is also a priority for me. My parents are in their late 60s/early 70s, my nephews are 13 and 16, and I’m about to have a new niece. I only have so much time with all of them, and I want to maximize that as much as possible.

13. Creativity feeds my soul. I need creative, artistic outlets to counter the mostly intellectual work I do on a daily basis. (See the trust and safety friendship bracelets.)

14. Spirituality through tarot, astrology, crystals, and more has become a big component in my life. It is a way for me to work through emotions and feelings and process what is happening in the world.

15. I want and need love and community but my way of getting that is unique (and that is ok). I want to continue to find and nourish that.

My goal is to use these truths as a framework to be more intentional in how I am living my life so that I can maximize my happiness and impact. I permit myself to change any of these whenever they stop working for me.

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