Who we are
The People is a creative force using modern storytelling and social media savvy to protect and advance American democracy.
We create radically cost-efficient digital campaigns that promote progressive candidates and policies by combining our TV expertise with the weaponry of digital. We tell stories that connect to constituents and inspire them to action.
Our content is data-driven and precisely targeted to achieve maximum impact for minimum bucks.
Why focus on States
We focus on state legislatures because they determine political power in America. Historically overlooked by Democrats, Republicans took control of local legislatures in 2010 for just this reason.
STATES CONTROL: voting rights, access to healthcare, unemployment benefits, economic recovery, criminal justice reform, gun safety, and more.
With the Supreme Court’s 2019 ruling that partisan gerrymandering is constitutional, Republican dominance of our state legislatures will all but ensure minority rule of our state governments, Congress, and the judiciary—including the Supreme Court—until at least 2032.
The fight for our democracy is in our states, and it is happening right now.
Our Work
Our Impact
Since 2017, we’ve supported 134 state house candidates in ten states, democratizing access to best-in-class media for mostly first-time, progressive candidates, and playing an essential role in Democrats reclaiming over 400 state legislature seats nationwide. This year, we’ll be using targeted, data-driven ads to help defend the Democratic majority in the Virginia House of Delegates. Since flipping the chamber in 2019, Dems have passed hundreds of pieces of progressive legislation, but there’s so much more to do.
Our team
MARA GERSTEIN,
Fmr Executive Director and Advisor
Mara is an award-winning audio producer and former director of digital projects for several companies including SapientNitro, where she led delivery for its New York interactive marketing services team. Mara spent nearly a decade writing, producing, and performing with SF-based sketch comedy group Killing My Lobster. After a post-election move to one of the country’s 206 “pivot counties,” Mara co-founded Show Up Long Island, to organize community activists.
HANNAH ROSENZWEIG,
Executive Director
MICHAEL HIRSCHORN,
Founder and Creative Director
Hannah Rosenzweig is a director, producer, and storyteller. Since serving as Hillary Clinton's personal videographer for her 2008 presidential campaign, she has produced media for progressive candidates and elected officials nationwide. She directed "SURGE" (2020) a critically-acclaimed documentary on Showtime. Hannah founded and still runs Intention Media, a media production company based in NY. She is a JustFilms Fellow with the Ford Foundation for leaders working at the intersection of storytelling, media, and social change.
Michael is the multiple Emmy-award winning CEO of Ish Entertainment, a New York-based TV and film production company. From 2001-2008, Michael was head of programming at VH1, where he pioneered “celebreality” and more than doubled ratings. He is a contributing editor at The Atlantic, and in 2010, blamed technology for hastening a post-factual dystopia in which each side would begin making up its own facts. Michael has also written for The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine and The New York Times.
SHARON MEERS,
Co-Founder and Advisor
Sharon is a former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs where she worked for 17 years—first in New York and later in Silicon Valley. Sharon has spent the last 6 years working for tech companies, most recently as an executive at eBay and an advisor to start-ups. Sharon is the co-author of Getting to 50/50, a book about women in leadership and has written on this topic for The New York Times, Fortune and BusinessWeek and appeared on NPR and the Today show.
YAEL MELAMEDE,
Founder and Creative Producer
Yael is co-founder of SALTY Features. Yael’s films include Inocente, winner of the 2013 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short, When I Walk, winner of a 2015 News and Documentary Emmy, and Desert Runners, winner of multiple awards. Yael’s 2015 film “(Dis)Honesty - The Truth About Lies” was released to great critical acclaim. Yael’s production credits also include My Architect, nominated for a 2004 Academy Award.
Advisors
LIZ MANNE, Liz Manne Strategy, #PopJustice, The Culture Group
DAVID COHEN, Forward Majority
MARISSA TRAMBLEY, Stott Development Solutions Group, HFA
MICHELLE MELENDEZ, Global Citizen
BONNIE SIEGLER, Eight and a Half
KURT ANDERSEN, Fantasyland, Studio 360
ANNE KREAMER, Nickelodeon
JAMIE MANISCALCO, Theia Solutions
Network & Partners
