What It Is and What It Can Be.
If you’re here because I force-fed you my site link, I appreciate the click. If you’re here because you are doing some background research on me, it’s all good, read on. If you’re here because you think you could benefit from strategic communications and engagement advice, this is the place for you to learn a little bit about my perspective and what I hope to do with each project and client that I take on.
At D. Gaines Consulting (DGC), I provide three categories of services related to communications and engagement: Research Services, Campaign Services, and Public Square Services.
Research Services are those related to finding, listening, and understanding audiences. Community Leaders, Non-profits, and Small Businesses need to keep a finger on the pulse of their communities but might not have the capacity to build relationships and systems. I am a skilled integrated methods researcher meaning, I find value in getting information more than one way. I have created surveys to be filled by hand and online, I’ve conducted interviews and focus groups and I have synthesized data into reports all while creating systems for stakeholders to use in the future. I can identify your audience and craft a strong strategy to reach them with your message.
Campaign Services are those related to my campaign engagement skills. These services elevate, engage, and empower campaigns. Often, campaign skills are quickly connected with partisan elections. For good reason, of course. We have horserace election coverage more than a year before the presidential. However, campaigns include issue campaigns and nonpartisan elections as well. I have experience leading mobilization efforts in statewide races in both Dark Red and Dark Blue states, each with its own set of goals and obstacles. My professional services include campaign advising, mobilization organization, and strategic planning. Candidates and issue advocates are usually passionate about their cause. Unfortunately, passion will not drive everyone to vote. A strategic communication and engagement consultant helps these passionate individuals to identify necessary coalitions, build mobilization systems, and implement culturally appropriate strategies to build support for their candidate or issue.
Public Square Services reflect my desire to motivate, ground, and inspire. Interpersonal communication bridges the gap between ideas and action. A dreamer might argue that this service category is the most future-oriented of them all. Here, I use my public speaking, speech writing, and academic background to educate crowds on different topics including but not limited to Black History, positive aspirations, political procedure and processes, and the importance of voting. I might be the only person in the world who actually loves a good icebreaker! I know team building takes more than an introductory game, however, it doesn’t take much more than a genuine laugh. Using what the client brings me and what I sense as I interact with the team, I encourage individuals to open up and work to move past obstacles in the way of their teams’ growth.
A throughline in each of the service categories is that I synthesize information prior to crafting responses or products. To me, the Break-It-Down Method is simple; I deconstruct problems and answers into their constituent parts and then identify the methods, tools, and information that explain and answer them. This way, rather than throwing information back at the already confused clientele, I translate results, policy, and industry jargon into summary points and action steps.
My personal and professional backgrounds have prepared me to excel at this work.
I’m from rural Arkansas. The dull pain of potential with the empty promise of equity color so much of the narrative in the hearts and minds of people in my community and communities like it. I grew up in a place where one side of town has a swampy mosquito farm for a park and another has speed bumps, seesaws, and slides. While those might be “country people problems”, inequity is a blight that spreads and destroys across the country in cities and suburbs alike.
I graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2017 with a combined Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and African-American Studies (and a minor in communications). One resounding truth that emerged during my time as a Razorback was that there are some people who exist to disrupt for personal gain and those who disrupt to elevate systems. I knew I wanted to be the latter.
From there, I chose to pursue Doctoral studies in Political Science at Northwestern University to further develop my research acumen and deepen my understanding of political behavior. I wanted to know why people refused to participate in politics, knowing that it was integral to protecting their interests. Having researched, written, and defended a dissertation titled, Dirt Road Democracy: How Political Context Shapes Rural Black Mobilization, I have a newfound respect and appreciation for the work of moving people. I learned that there are as many red lights as there are green for Black rural voters. As a political strategist, I assisted a small but mighty team to run a Democrat for governor in a deep red state. Though we did not win the election, we gathered more votes than any Democratic candidate in recent history and showed ourselves and the country that there are good bones in the South, we just need more support.
