Episode 1: Monica Guzman

Subscribe to the Podcast: iTunes | Spotify | Soundcloud

Mónica Guzmán is the co-founder and of The Evergrey, the essential newsletter for Seattleites who want to make the most of their city, and Vice President of Local at WhereBy.Us, helping a team of entrepreneurial journalists help locals in five cities “live like you live here.” She is a former columnist at The Seattle Times, GeekWire, The Daily Beast and The Columbia Journalism Review. Moni studied how to connect journalists and the public as a 2016 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, and studied political and social divisions as a 2019 Henry M. Jackson Leadership Fellow. She is the author of the influential 2016 API strategy study "The best ways to build audience and relevance by listening to and engaging your audience,” served as vice-chair of the Society of Professional Journalists Ethics Committee, and was as a juror for the 2013 and 2014 Pulitzer Prizes. Moni's a big fan of chocolate, karaoke, and good stouts, and lives in Seattle's Wedgwood neighborhood with her husband, Jason Preston, and their two kids.

Yet, as we talked to Mónica we realized she not only has a deep intellectual approach, but is incredibly thoughtful and willing to embrace tensions and cross boundaries. One thing we love about her is that she is not afraid to truly get on the ground and build relationships. After Trump was elected, and many in King County weren’t sure how to respond….she came up with an idea. She found a county in rural Oregon, Sherman County, which voted the same for Trump (74%) as King County did for Clinton (74%). She asked, what if I took some Clinton voters down for a few days to hang out with some Trump voters… not to convert anyone, but to get reconnected and learn. Wow.

We hope you enjoy our discussion with Mónica as much as we did.