TheBridge profile: Eric Ebenstein

Name: Eric Ebenstein

Current city: Washington, DC

Current job: Director of Public Policy at TikTok

Past job: Head of North America Public Policy at DJI; State Government Affairs Executive at POET

Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting? Any Starbucks so I can get my Starbucks Rewards Stars. I'm loyal like that.

Q. Describe one skill you learned in a previous job that helped you in your new job. The ability to manage up is just as important as the ability to manage down. You're always going to be doing both, and the skill sets are very different.

Q. Job advice in three words? Always Be Responsive

Q. How are you (or your company, org, nonprofit) currently bridging the gap between politics and tech? Education, education, education. As you may have noticed during the recent Facebook hearings, there's often a disconnect between what a product does, and what elected leaders think that product does. That kind of misunderstanding can lead to deadly policy outcomes. My job is to protect against that from happening to my company.

Q. If you had to live in another city, which would it be? London. All soccer, all the time. Plus, the accents are the best, and I want one.

Q. Favorite restaurant? This minute? In DC? Del Mar. Check it out. 

Q. Last time you were completely unplugged? This week. 13 hour flight back from Beijing. It was glorious.

Q. Most underrated virtue in an employee? Sticktoitiveness. Seriously. Sometimes you just have to work on something forever until it finally gets done. Continuously applied blunt force works wonders.

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