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Shana Glickfield's
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Shane Glickfield
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helps organizations
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Beekeeper Group
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influence public policy.
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ALLAN NAHAJEWSKI I CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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t's election time. Tension grips our nation's capital.
"My friends on Facebook who work on
campaigns are making jokes about the weight
they're losing and sleep they're not getting," says
Shana Glickfield, 36, a former Detroiter who has carved
out a career in Washington as a social media consultant.
"Between Election Day and inauguration, jobs here are a
game of musical chairs."
While at the center of the political action, she's
immune to the job uncertainty shared by many whose
livelihood depends on who wins in November. Glickfield
is a creator and one of five partners in the Beekeeper
Group, which describes itself as a trans-partisan firm.
"Most of our clients are associations that want to stay
neutral," she says. "So often in Washington, once your
issue is identified as left or right, it becomes a real head-
to-head battle. A lot of policy issues are non-partisan.
That's where we come in."
The company's clients include the American Heart
Association and the ALS Association as well as telecom
companies. "I've worked with Verizon, helping its public
policy department navigate social media, not to sell more
phones or get more subscribers, but to influence policy
issues affecting the company. We work in the same
capacity with the National Association of Broadcasters."
To avoid being typecast, the firm does not sell its
services to candidates.
The Beekeeper name was selected to capture the
company's approach. "It's a new model of grassroots
advocacy," says Glickfield. "The concept is that your
advocates are already communicating online, or in other
words, your bees are already buzzing. The role we play
is to get all those bees together in a hive and collect the
honey and deliver it to Congress."
How clearly someone understands the concept
depends in part on where you live.
"When I describe our company to potential clients in
Washington, a light bulb goes on, and they get it right
away," she says. "But when I try to describe it to my
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October 25 • 2012
parents, they say, 'What is it again that you do?"
Shana grew up in Huntington Woods, attended Temple
Emanu-El and went to Berkley High School. She says a
senior class trip to Washington inspired her career. "I
loved it. I wanted to go back," she remembers. "I knew I
wanted to be where laws were being made."
She earned a bachelor's degree in environmental
policy from Michigan State University. She credits Jewish
connections for much of her career development.
"After I got my law degree, I began working for a
public affairs firm that was developing a social media
department," she says. "The company founder was
Jewish, and he took me under his wing. He was very
connected in his synagogue and active in the Jewish
community. He's still a mentor of mine. I wouldn't have
had the same career experiences without that Jewish
connection."
Three of the five Beekeeper Group partners are Jewish.
"One is Jewish Australian. Another married a Jewish
woman in May and is in the process of converting," she
said. "We often do Jewish holidays together."
While the company does not work for candidates, it
keeps a close eye on how they are using digital tools. "Our
clients see what the campaigns are doing, then want to do
the same for advocacy," she says. "After the last election,
everyone wanted to do what President Obama did with
social media and mobile communications to organize. We
stay on top of the trends."
Glickfield describes the current state of social media in
Washington as "the end of the beginning." Candidates
are going beyond Twitter and Facebook and exploring
alternative tools. "Some are doing Google hangouts,
where they jump onto a video screen and select a few
people to take questions from, and invite everyone to
watch," she says. "President Obama did a town hall
through Reddit, which has a younger demographic. Both
of the candidates are using Instagram, a popular photo-
sharing tool. The idea is to tap into less mainstream
opportunities that still have a large base."
She noted that the latest presidential debates set
new records on tweets per second. "It's a two-screen
experience for many people today," she says. "They're
watching the debate and having a conversation about it
at the same time."
While it's currently crunch time in Washington for
those working on campaigns, it's preparation time for
the Beekeeper Group. "A lot of our clients are getting
prepared for a new Congress, no matter the outcome,"
she says. "The first year of a new term is when most
policymaking gets done. People are not worried about
campaigning, and there's a new freshman class that
needs information on your issues."
Glickfield says her Judaism has an impact on her work
life.
"We empower people's voices to be heard on Capitol
Hill," she says. "I believe my Jewish grounding is why I'm
hyper-aware of how communications come across. Social
media can be dangerous. Everything's in real time. I'm
sensitive about what I put out there, who it's going to
affect and how."
In her spare time, she's involved with several charities,
including the Awesome Foundation, which pulls together
10 leaders from different aspects of the community. "We
get together once a month, we each put in $100 and
give a $1,000 grant to something that's awesome and
benefits our community," she says. "We've funded a
farmers' market in a low-income area and a re-creation
of the boulder scene from Indiana Jones as a form of
public art."
She's also on the L'Enfant Society Steering Committee
of the Trust for the National Mall, which lobbies for
support for the park and does private fundraising.
"I'm extremely passionate about the city," she says.
"What's unique about Washington is that just about
nobody is from here. It's the city of all the kids who sat
in the front row in class."
Her office is just two blocks from the White House.
"It's a unique experience." E.