When asked if social media has the ability to change politics for the better, public policy advocate Ximena Hartsock said, “I think it is already. If you look at Twitter, 100 percent of the senators are on Twitter, 97 percent of the House, most of our governors. If you look at the way they write, they’re writing to their constituency. They also advocate for the bills or the things they care about.”

Hartsock is the president and founder of Phone2Action, a tech company whose software is used by organizations to engage and mobilize their supporters. She talked with Women of Washington interviewers Aileen Black and Gigi Schumm about her role in the constantly changing realms of media and politics.

“That alone, I think is a really good step, because it brings transparency,” Hartsock said, on politicians using social media. “It shows what they do, what they care about. … The transparency that social media has been bringing to the political ecosystem, and policy making ecosystem, has been incredible.”

Hartsock discussed how she founded Phone2Action without any background in technology.

“It was very difficult in the beginning to find people who understood what I wanted to do,” she said. “We all know about Silicon Valley. I found a very welcoming community in terms of talking about ideas there, but finding people that were serious about developing an idea wasn’t as easy.”

She also shared insight with Women of Washington that she learned during her first career as a teacher and then a principal and administrator in the D.C. Public School System.

“Teaching is one of the most wonderful experiences anyone can have,” she said. “I think it prepares you for a lot in life, because when you teach you have to know first. You have to model the way by  example, and it makes you a better person.”

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