NEW YORK—Most people aspire to move up in government to make a deeper impact. Not Alexis Grenell. She feels she can do more from the other direction.
After working for officials such as Sen. Jeff Klein, Sen. Joe Addabbo, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Grenell is now using her skills as a communication and political strategist to help non-governmental action organizations.
“I’ve had the good fortune to work with very sincere officials,” Grenell said. “Advocacy and government are not mutually exclusive, but I wanted to apply what I know to help organizations [with] issue agendas who didn’t know how to be effective as they could be.”
Grenell’s philosophy is, “You can make it if you try.”
Some may feel that the vision of America as the land of democracy and opportunity is more idealistic than realistic, but Grenell sees one’s ability to achieve change as none other than effective organization and communication, and she plans to help the underrepresented do precisely that.
Grenell’s mother helped Russian immigrants resettle during the mass immigration in the 1990s. Grenell saw first-hand how much hope people around the world place in the United States, and felt frustrated that many groups have not gained equal rights and are still underrepresented today.
She grew up hearing tales of her feisty great-grandmother, a destitute Jewish immigrant and suffragette, who was a member of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.
“My great-grandmother got to see the changes that happened with labor unions and women’s rights within her lifetime: you can make it if you try,” Grenell said.
Grenell thinks of her great-grandmother when she writes women’s rights op-eds for various publications.
“But we’re still underrepresented today,” she said. “Women consist of 50 percent of the population, yet only 10 percent of Congress.”
The gratification of accomplishment may come slowly in advocacy, but Grenell’s conviction to help the underserved remains strong.
