TheBridge profile: Emily Emery

Name: Emily Emery

Current city: Washington, DC

Current job: Senior Manager - Government Relations and Law Enforcement at Twilio

Past job: Non-profit and political fundraising, and before that I was an LC for Senator Tom Harkin (dating myself with that one)

Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting: Coffee cart and then go for a walk

Q. Describe one way how a skill you learned in a previous job helped you in your new job: I love The Bridge vocabulary translations, so here goes: enjoying constituent relations translates well into customer success roles in tech companies; a campaign plan is a product road map, so be a project manager; and fundraising is fundraising.

Q. Job advice in three words? Embrace the pivot.

Q. How are you (or your company, org, nonprofit) currently bridging the gap between politics and tech? Twilio has hosted a number of informal roundtables that bring a lawmaker or regulatory head to meet with a few similarly sized companies.

Roundtables bring you strength in numbers and scale. It's important that DC hears from tech companies of all sizes, including companies who may not have dedicated public policy resources. 

Coordinating a few companies to sit down with a lawmaker be incredibly enlightening for both sides and builds relationships for future engagement.

Q: Hours of sleep: New mom so never more than 6 at a time.

Q: Live in another city: SF and DC are great but NYC is a tech hub too!

Q: Best advice: "Lean In." It's not remotely cliche and Sheryl Sandberg's book is worth a thorough read for people in both industries.