81: Wellesley Michaels on Amplifying the Work of Vice President Harris
Wellesley Michael has the sweetest little rescue pup Petunia, and they do everything possible together. Always looking for a new Lego set, she will forever be a theatre kid, and enjoys taking in D.C.'s vast theatre scene.
Wellesley formed a passion for community organizing purely out of a search for hope, support, and community after the murder of George Floyd. She then got trapped in the world of politics by working on campaigns in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. In D.C., she has worked on digital communications in the U.S. House, Senate, and the Biden-Harris White House. Currently, Wellesley is building the first-ever Creator Program for Senate Democrats — connecting Senators with content creators and new media.
Quotes:
“It eases my anxiety a lot to know the finality of something, but that doesn't make it less difficult.”
“My job was managing the VP comms accounts and I needed to make sure that the American public saw the total breadth of everything that Kamala Harris had done as Vice President that people didn't give her credit for or know about. A lot of the things that she did were not in the media.”
“We knew the job was ending and there were different paths of what the ending would look like. No matter what happened, on January 20th, the Biden-Harris administration was over. It was just a matter of, would it be then the Harris-Walz administration moving in? But there were many waves of grief.”
“The hardest part of any sort of high impact work that's really short is your life transitions so quickly to something different. And when you're so focused on the outcomes for someone else all day, it's hard to manage your self care. And even in the most basic sense of where am I getting food?”
Find Wellesley:
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This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.
“My job was managing the VP comms accounts and I needed to make sure that the American public saw the total breadth of everything that Kamala Harris had done as Vice President that people didn’t give her credit for or know about. A lot of the things that she did were not in the media.”
Transcript:
Wellesley is the proud Mama to a little sweet rescue pup named Petya and they do everything possible together. One of my greatest joys actually Wellesley, is looking on your Instagram for updates from Petya. Um, yes, Wellesley is always looking for a new Lego set. Will forever be a theater kid and enjoys taking in DC's vast theater scene.
Wellesley formed a passion for community organizing purely out of a search for hope, support, and community after the murder of George Floyd. She then got wrapped up in the world of politics by working on campaigns in her hometown, Omaha, Nebraska, and in dc. She has worked on digital communication in the US House, the Senate, and the Biden Harris White House.
She's currently building the first ever creator program for Senate Democrats, which connects senators with content creators and new media. So you might be thinking, why is Wellesley on the Leaving Well podcast, and it's because this conversation holds a really potent paradox around how to give yourself.
Fully to something that you already know will end, especially in political campaigns or high stakes, time bound roles. This opens up a portal into legacy, performance, impermanence, and even the quiet grief of contribution that doesn't necessarily linger in public memory. So I'm excited about Wesley's, uh, theater background.
Your deep roots in political communication and your. The relational really entry point into organizing. So I'm excited for you to listen in, uh, to help explore and learn a little bit from Wellesley's perspective about what it means to embody presence when permanence isn't an offer. First question, that would be normal.
You don't have to be normal. You don't have to be normal at. Normal is also a spectrum. Right. I'm just like, I know you in many contexts. That is so true. But, and we, we can, we can just invite the listener in to our brand of normal. Yes. Welcome. Yes, you're invited. Welcome in. Okay. So my first question for you is when you know something's going to end.
What does it take to be fully present? And I'm curious how you show up wholeheartedly when the finish line is already visible. I'm thinking about political campaigns, pageantry, theater, like all of those things come to an end. How do you show up and what have you learned about that? What I've learned about myself in this is I actually really enjoy it.
Mm-hmm. I, I love to have control of all things. I love to know how things will go. I want to know what the finish line looks like. I want to know when it's coming. That doesn't make it easier for the record that I know these things are ending. It doesn't make it easier, but from an anxious person's standpoint, sometimes it is helpful and that is something I have to remind myself of.
Like I know when the end date of this thing is, and so I know I can do. The work from where I start, because I know where the ending is. That makes like the days where I, I don't wanna do the thing. It's so slow. It's like I know this is ending. I don't want to go into an office every day. I am like a work from home girl through and through COVID was, I took all online classes in college, like a majority classes online when I could take a class online, I did.
I like, I can work from my bed, I can work from my, I can work from. Anywhere true like I am. I'm not limited by those things, and so going into an office every day is not my favorite activity. When the White House is, is your office, you feel like mildly differently. Even though it takes like an extra 15 minutes, you need to allot for, like you add 15 minutes for the security part of your commute.
It's like a whole thing, but. It's, it eases my anxiety to know when the end is. It's not a, when will this end? Am I going to get fired? Granted, could still get fired, but it's not like this waiting game of when will it end. The job I'm in right now is the first time where I'm having the moment of, I don't know how this end, like it is something that is more permanent.
It's something I could do maybe forever. Maybe it ends if. TikTok to eyes. I don't know. So it eases my anxiety a lot to know the finality of something, but that doesn't make it less difficult. It's interesting that you say that because I also thrive on short-term projects. I thrive knowing I can come in, I can give it my all.
I can be fully present. I know it's gonna end. I don't know how well I would do with a forever quote unquote, forever say, nonprofit job or organizing job. Um, so I'm really glad that you said that. Is there anything that you pull from, and maybe, maybe this is something that you haven't ever correlated, but is there anything that you pull from your time with pageantry and theater around how you approach your time bound roles and projects in the political and organizing work that you're doing now?
I don't know that I've necessarily thought of it, but it's all been definitely a practice in this like theater. You rehearse, rehearse, rehearse for so long and then you know, it ends, you know, it wraps. There's a wrap party. It's a whole fun thing. You know, the end is coming. When I was crowned Miss Omaha, I knew, okay, I can do all of these things.
These are the things that I'd like to accomplish. I can survive all of the madness of people telling me what to wear, how to do my hair. You're not wearing enough mascara. I can do all of that because I'm doing it for a year. So it's all been a practice in that, but I ne I never put two and two together that, oh, this is actually something that.
Even I, I hesitate to say that it's comfortable for me because it's still never comfortable to like, wake up one day and be like, I don't have a job. Even though, you know, for months you're not gonna have a job after January 20th. But it, I, it's something that I think I have become better at because those are.
It's fun to me to know when the end is, but I like it. I'm not guessing. Well, and I'm wondering, I'm thinking about too, so the person listening who is like, yeah, well I don't have that kind of a job, or That's not my mo, I think you could still borrow something from what you're saying, Wellesley around, manufacture the end, then manufacture, you know, this pro, maybe it's a nonprofit program.
You know, when we get to the end of this cohort, how can we. Plan a wrap party. How can we do an after action review? Yeah. Um, knowing that you were Miss Omaha for a year, you knew that because there's going to be a next Miss Omaha, so, and I I'm thinking of the pictures that people take where it's like the passing of the crown to the next crown.
Yes. How do you pass the crown to, to someone else in your organization? So there's just so many things that my brain is like firing on. And one thing on that too, I will say when I. Because I have not always had jobs where I knew they would end. Sometimes I've had jobs where I know it will change quite possibly, but when I was working in the house.
Something there, even though it's like, you know, an election changes everything, but I would count my time in intern cycles. So I, I was living to, okay, this is the end of this intern cohort. We do a whole thing for them. They take a picture with the chairman, you know, kinda last day, last day of school type things.
And then, you know, in, well normally there's like a couple weeks in between, the next intern cohort comes and you do the same thing again. So it was like I was living. On their timeline of they know when this is going to end. So maybe there's a way to feel it from someone else that you work with in your organization or a project.
I feel a living in that project to project. I love that you just said that about living in someone else's timeline because that also takes, I don't know, maybe I'm assuming this, but it feels like it can take the pressure then off of you to have to be. In control a little bit because it's someone else's timeline.
You're creating this for them. I mean, I can only imagine knowing you that the experience that they had because of the way that you did that. Was probably just so in incredible and beautiful for them. Um, so that's really cool. I love that you interjected that I miss my little interns. I bet you do. I bet you do.
Now you have little senate, but now you have little, uh, democrats that you're Yeah. Minions Yes. Members of Congress. Yes. So you have, you have worked on, uh, and helped to run many campaigns, which are built on urgency and not sustainability. And I know that you weren't officially. Uh, with Vice President Harris's campaign.
But you were in the Biden Harris White House functioning as the Vice President's support. On the comms side of things, are there personal practices or community care ideologies that helped you during that time, maybe also heal? 'cause that was intense. I mean, that was wild. Also, maybe if you wanna share a little bit about like, when did you start that role?
Like how long was that for you? Yeah, so it's actually such a process. Um, I can't remember, like Naomi, we talked during, at some point during the process because, you know, you probably got a super secret phone call from someone to vouch that I'm not, you know, I'm sane enough to work in the White House. The process started really with a random phone call one day.
I think it was like maybe April of. Last year, and I was interviewing for this job for a bit. I got the offer, and then there's a whole long kind of, I would call it like a purgatory in a sense, where you're waiting to make sure that you know you haven't done anything crazy. You go through a whole background check process, really in depth thing, all these interviews, but backing up just slightly.
There was a moment, and I remember the day vividly because everyone else remembers it for other reasons. Um, it was the last piece of my interview, which was to show samples of my work, which is pretty standard in, uh, the world that I'm in. So, set my work samples off, made these beautiful graphics I thought were just amazing.
I made sure like all of, I didn't know anything about. What font, the vice president uses any of those things, but I use my internet tools and super secret agent work to kind of figure these things out so I can make the most beautiful graphics. So they would have no choice but to hire me. I hit send on that graphic, I think around, I think it was do it noon?
I might have sent it around like 1145 or something. Then around one 30 I get a message in a work group chat because mind you, I do still have another job at the time work group chat, which we sent all of our news updates in. That is Joe Biden's tweet saying he is dropping out of the race and he will not be running.
And I'm interviewing work Vice president. So I'm just like, this is crazy. I just did the last thing, like, what does this mean for me? Everyone is thinking about Joe Biden. I, I'm thinking about me. I'm like, how does, does Wellesley have a job or not? Like, where, where is this going? And then about an hour and a half later, there's the next, I endorse Vice President Harris to, you know, be the nominee.
I'm just like, I'm never gonna hear from these people. I am getting ghosted. I will simply never hear from the vice president's team. They are busy, they have things to do. I sent my graphics to their emails that probably have a gajillion emails right now. Um, but I did get a call like that week that was like, okay.
You're in, we're doing the thing. And then it just, it just all happened. I can't even remember the original question because now I'm just purely like trauma dumping my day that Joe Biden got elected. The question was, again, it's a time that was limited and so when you got the call that we're doing the, you were immediately plunged into, I don't know what you wanna call it.
It could be a version. Yeah, it could be a version of chaos. It could have been also a version of absolute joy. 'cause this is pretty cool. Yeah. What did you. What did you learn during that time about maybe, maybe the question, maybe I'll just change the question about taking care of yourself and balancing a really big job, but also going back to your, your comment taking care of Wellesley.
Yeah. I will say taking care of Wellesley at that time was impossible because I was really. This sounds ridiculous because it's not that we are that close or close really at all, but I was taking care of the vice president because I did not want to do a single thing that could make America Doubt the first black woman in this position, like that fur weight became my weight, even though it wasn't like we were working next to each other all of the time.
We were, it was none of it was none of that. It was. I felt like my responsibility was to take care of her, so that really led me to finding the people that were okay to take care of me in that time. There were just little things. I switched, I gave in, I spent the $10 a month and to get like free delivery of groceries, I started doing grocery delivery.
So I would like see because I just could not figure out with like. The time the job took, when to like get groceries. When was I going to go to the gym and work out who was going to watch my dog? So like, I just started leaning on so many people, and I won't say that it needed any of my friends out, but it because it, it truly didn't.
But it showed me all of my friends that were able to rise to the occasion because they understood it. And I really leaned on the people that would. Would be okay with me showing up to my birthday dinner on my giant laptop and like they still wanted me to have a birthday dinner. And they knew that I would want that because I did, but I did not have time to plan that or to think it through that my friends did everything because they're also in this world.
They get it. They know we've all, we've all had the, I'm bringing my laptop out with me. I'm on the phone with my boss moment. And so it was finding people that gave me grace to be the new version of me, while also I found refuge because I felt horrible being that girl. I felt horrible. It didn't feel like me.
It felt like a play version of me, like I was playing DC like playing a big dog. It, it did not feel authentic even though it, it was what I needed to do in that moment, and that is me to do what needs to be done in the moment, but to have friends. That could support me. And I knew this ends eventually, so I, I can, I can be this version of myself that does not feel authentic to me for just a little bit.
I cannot do this for life. Yeah. I love that. Well, and I also think you are in this, this world now where you are touching things that the rest of us view as really important. And not just that we view it as important. It is our democracy. Yeah. Um, and it's, it's just from a personal friend comment, it's really cool to watch you continue to, to give impact and of yourself, and I love that you have figured out little bits and pieces of how to do that and keep Wellesley whole.
You might not be able to answer this question, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. Is there anything that you feel was really freaking powerful that you contributed during this time that was not captured in the formal narrative? Or is there a part of. What you contributed, that is a part of your legacy, but that was totally behind the scenes.
Hmm. I don't feel like there's anything I can't say to be honest. The thing I'm really freaking proud of. So my role when I originally started was going to be managing partnerships for the vice president. She wanted to do more work with content creators, um, and like bring them into the vice president's residents and have events.
And she was already doing that work. It was just, there wasn't a person that was solely focused on that. Um, but then she became the nominee. And there are a lot of things that go into that. It was 107 day campaign and she had to campaign really hard for 107 days. So my job was managing the app VP accounts, and I needed to make sure that the American public saw the total breadth.
Of everything that Kamala Harris had done as vice president that people didn't give her credit for or know about. Frankly, a lot of the things that she did were not in the media. I think people say like, oh, this doesn't get covered, and that, that's not necessarily true, but it wasn't like the thing that everyone was talking about all the time was, this is what the vice president did that day.
Like there were stories about it. That comps team was amazing. So. It was covered, but not every, everyone didn't necessarily know all of the work that she had been doing. And a good vice president works and she was a great vice president, so she worked plenty. And so that is the thing that I'm really proud of.
It was all behind the scenes, which is fine by me. I don't, I would prefer to be behind the scenes. She can, she's fantastic and can do. Can be the face of all of the things. That's great. Like I am proud and thrilled to just be a part of making sure that people know that it happened. Well, and I think going back to that time, you know, obviously knowing that you were behind a lot of that the work that you and your team did was separate from the candidacy.
It, it wasn't, yes, we are. We're showing you this because we want you to also know that she's an excellent candidate and would make an amazing president. It was, this is the work of a vice president of the United States of America, and this is why, this is the other thing I loved about it. Wellesley was, and this is, is why it matters to you as you're watching this deal, as you're watching these photos, this is why it matters to you as an American citizen, and I just thought that was so.
Mm-hmm. Potent and so beautiful is it, it does capture the legacy of her vice presidency separate from the fact that there was also a candidacy going on. And I just thought that was, I, I don't know anyone else that could have done it in a way that you and your team did it. Um, so I just wanna say thank you for that.
Thank you. It was a really exciting time too, because then the spotlight was on her and everything she had done, and so then all of a sudden everyone like, you know, has a, there's a closer eye to all of the work that she had done in the past. So it's fun. It was a fun to be a part of telling that story of some of the things that.
People might have missed law for four years. Taking this back to the Likely Listener is in nonprofit, take this opportunity to think through what can you sweet listener do a better job of, of amplifying the work that you are doing. How can you better amplify the work of your programs? Um, how can you make sure that people know the work and the impact that the community has because of your work?
I think we get so caught up in the nitty gritty of. The day of the fires that we forget to say, and this is the good stuff we're doing. So thank you for, for sharing that. I can only imagine 'cause the rest of the country, well not everyone, but the people I would hang out with were deeply traumatized by the outcome.
But for you it was not only that, but it was also an like inauguration day. You know? Have you been able to wrestle with or acknowledge, or. Transform in any way, the grief that lives inside of that work and that time. Yeah. I would say it comes in different. It came in different waves. I will say the griefs come in tru, truly like a variety of waves.
Obviously the first being election night, I was there as the votes were coming in. I have vivid memories of it. I do not go past Howard very often because. It's a beautiful campus. It is a sad space for me. I think the joy in it was the team. Like we, we knew it was ending. I know I've said this so many times, but we knew it was ending and it just had different paths of what the ending would look like.
Like no matter what happened. On January 20th, the Biden Harris administration was over. It was just a matter of, would it be then the Harris Walls administration moving in? What, what does that look like? There were many waves of it. There was the like WHI crying, there was the, I can't get out of bed phase That came, you know, a couple of times, but it was also.
One of our, our like video director Za, opened her home. She and her wife have this beautiful home in the cutest little dog Rex. And her home was just open to anyone at any time just to like not be alone. I am not the kind of person, I did not answer texts. I did not leave my house. I did not go to Zas, but just like.
The opportunity for there to be community was really beautiful. It was my boss Morgan saying, let me review people's resumes. Let me review your cover letters. I feel like everyone always says like, I'll be a reference. I'll be a reference. We hear that all the time and people mean it, but it was just like.
Everyone was saying it in a way that they like, truly meant it. Everyone was cheering people along. One of my best friends, um, in the White House, Tricia, we, she, we joke that we would coordinate when the president and the second gentleman would kiss on social media because she was running his account and I was running hers.
We didn't like that didn't actually happen, but that we made that joke to a creator the other day and he did not laugh. But we were working really closely together and you know, we're all in the space of sitting at work trying to figure out what is next, what are we going to do now that we know the outcome?
And like getting to be a part of her journey. She's like interviewing for things. We're like, who can we call? How can we help? Like who can, who can we get to back this about like all of the things. And then for her to like show up one day and be like, I got the job that I really wanted. And now we get to work together again.
She's just one floor below me in the senate. And so it's like the community and the true human aspect that got me through a ton. And just to be around people that get it and understand like a ton of people reached out and said like really kind things. And like that was helpful eventually when I had the like stomach to read sad messages, but to just be around people that were ready to and that understood.
Hey, Wesley needs to go take a 30 minute call. Who knows what it's about? Maybe it's a job interview during the day like that. That understanding got me really far in the grief of it all. I love that you just, I mean, I love everything that you said, but I'm thinking again about like a lesson for folks to take away.
I don't think that we offer folks enough space inside of a current job to actively be searching for something else. And that is something that set the gift in the work that you do because there is an end. Mm-hmm. Um, that there's more understanding, and I just think there could be even more of that. In the normal workplace, people tell you that they are searching.
Let them take a day to go have an interview. That would be a beautiful world if you could redesign. The way that people prepare for temporary, but really high impact work. I think about, um. Folks that are flown in after a, a climate disaster to help with cleanup. I'm thinking about folks that are doing technical assistance for, I mean the homelessness situation in DC right now.
There's a lot of people on the ground for temporary but high impact work. Your work, what would you encourage them or what would you think the system would need to do to better support folks to stay engaged and present, but soft and clear? What do you think we should do? Yeah, I think the hardest part of any sort of high impact work that's really short is your life transitions so quickly to something different, and when you're so focused on the outcomes for someone else all day, it's hard to manage your, your self care.
And even in the most like basic ways of like. Where am I getting food? What am I doing? Like they bring in people for campaigns. I think of that often, like field organizers, and it sounds almost silly in a sense and selfish, but where is, where do I get food? What? What do I have time for When? When do I have the minute to go get food?
I'm in a brand new place. Where am I going to get food? Even like. Being dropped into a campaign in a random city, thankfully has not happened to me. Nebraska politics have enough battles for me to climb alone. I cannot go to another state to fight. But it's just like we we're bringing in these people and I'm trying to explain to 'em, okay, these are restaurants to go to.
This is a place to go. This is the grocery store near you. This is like the pharmacy near you. Just things that we take for granted being in a space all of the time. Um, that was another one of the things when I transitioned to this job. My boss Morgan, she was like, oh, here are like the places to get coffee around here.
Here's where we get lunch. Sometimes just to get a lay of the land is really helpful and to be clear in the goals that you have and the outcomes that you're looking for for people. Um, sometimes it's hard to be clear, but just as clear as you possibly can be because it is so short and fleeting. So it's like, how can I look back on this and know it was a success?
I love that so much. I'm like thinking so much about how we also each have agency and power, and it doesn't matter what your title is or your role in a project, we each have power to do those kind of things to help make sure that someone else has what they need to share the. Experiences or the favorite coffee shop for a new location.
Like that's, that's a good reminder. Wellesley, is there anything else that we haven't talked about that I haven't asked you that feels relevant to the conversation? I mean, you have wisdom for days. Um. Oh my goodness. Thank you. I feel like my overall. Thought on all of this. I know I reached out to you at spend my time in a, in the White House and I was like, Naomi, you talk about leaving all the time.
I'm being kicked out. I'm being evicted. Like the, that was just such a weird time. But I think reminding people, like there's peace that comes with endings, truly, like it might not be an immediate piece. I did not have immediate peace because one of the, there are two stories that I will briefly share about times ending, um, but when I was talking about our team and our office, like really coming together, we have a group chat, and when you walk into pretty much any door in the White House, there's a picture of the president and the vice president.
And as the administration was ending, it's a rolling thing. 'cause there are thousands of people that working. There are a ton of people working in the White House, believe it or not. Slowly, every day there would be signs on the doors that say office closed and like those people had left. They had turned in their laptops and all of their things.
But I was on the digital team, so I was there until basically the bitter end. I think I was like this second to last day. We could have like possibly been in there. So every day it gets quieter, the halls get darker, it gets pretty ominous. One day they had changed the portraits from President Biden and Vice President Harris to the next administration, and it was a jump scare, truly just because you walk in, you're like, oh yes, those are my parents.
Hello. Wave to the wall. And that was not the case. And so that was a moment where it did not feel like this brings me peace. It's like I am terrified. I was terrified on the day of the inauguration. I live like downtown DC so I'm like in the heart of all of it and seeing all of these people who I do not agree with on probably pretty much all things lined up outside of my apartment.
I did not have peace, but. It continues to reveal itself in little ways, and I was peace knowing that I had done my part in it. I can't really beat myself up over anything. I've never felt the need to. I, I can't speak for everyone. I don't, but I don't think it would be helpful for us to beat ourselves up over.
Anything that we did, I think we did a beautiful job. I think our vice president did a magnificent job, and so there was peace in that of, we did a great thing, the administration did many great things and we, we keep fighting. She won't let us not, we had been given no option, no other directive than to stay in the fight.
Complacency is just not. Not an option. Well, and I thank you for sharing that, and I think. What it brings up for me is a reminder about what I think is true about legacy is we're only about 50% in charge of our own legacy. The rest of it is what other people take from our time and our impact. And so I think about that with both Vice President Harris in the role of Vice President, her 107 day candidacy.
She was only in charge of so much of it. You were only in charge of so much of it. The rest of it is what we all took and what we're gonna do about it from here. And just a good reminder, um. To put our all into it. Take care of ourselves along the way. Find the people that will give you that grace and then be ready to jump into the next thing.
I think that's what I'm also encouraged by you so much Wellesley, is that that didn't make you think, I'm not doing this anymore. Uh, it just, you're like, no, let's keep going. Um, it's gonna look different, and your boss is different. What you do every day is different, but you've kept going. So it's such a pleasure and a joy to know you, and I'm so glad that you came on for this combo.
Oh my gosh. Thank you so much. What a new, what a new way for us to know each other. I love it actually a lot. Me too. Me too. If you are an organizational leader, board member, or a curious staff member, take the leaving while assessment to discover your organization's transition readiness archetype. It's quick and easy, and you can find it@naomihadaway.com.
Slash assessment, it's Naomi, N-A-O-M-I, hattaway, H-A-T-T-A-W-A y.com/assessment. To learn more about leaving well and how you can implement and embed the framework and culture in your own life and workplace. You can also see that information on my website. It's time for each of us to look ourselves in the mirror and finally admit we are playing a powerful role in the system.
We can either exist outside of our power or choose to decide to shift culture and to create transformation. Until next time, I'm your host, Naomi Hadaway, and you've been listening to Leaving Well, a Navigation Guide for Workplace Transitions.