Veteran Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile is an adjunct professor, author, syndicated columnist, television political commentator, and former interim National Chair of the Democratic National Committee as well as the former chair of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute. She is also founder and managing director of Brazile & Associates LLC, a general consulting, grassroots advocacy, and training firm based in Washington, DC.
Aside from working for the full recovery of her beloved New Orleans, Ms. Brazile’s passion is encouraging young people to vote, to work within the system to strengthen it, and to run for public office. Since 2000, Ms. Brazile has lectured at over 125 colleges and universities across the country on such topics as “Inspiring Civility in American Politics,” Race Relations in the Age of Obama, Why Diversity Matters, Women in American Politics: Are We There Yet.
She first got involved at the age of nine when she worked to elect a City Council candidate who had promised to build a playground in her neighborhood; the candidate won, the swing set was installed, and a lifelong passion for political progress was ignited. Ms. Brazile worked on every presidential campaign from 1976 through 2000, when she became the first African-American to manage a presidential campaign.
She is the author of the best-selling autobiography Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics, Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House, and, most recently, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics. Ms. Brazile is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, a syndicated newspaper columnist for Universal Uclick, a columnist for Ms. Magazine, and O, the Oprah Magazine, an on-air contributor to CNN, ABC, and now Fox News. Her secret passion is acting; she has recently made two cameo appearances on CBS’s The Good Wife. Ask her and she’ll tell you that acting, after all, is the key to success in politics.
In August 2009, O, The Oprah Magazine chose Ms. Brazile as one of its 20 “remarkable visionaries” for the magazine’s first-ever O Power List. In addition, she was named among the 100 Most Powerful Women by Washingtonian magazine, Top 50 Women in America by Essence magazine, and received the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s highest award for political achievement.
She is currently on the board of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
Last, but never least, she is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. In the aftermath of the two catastrophic hurricanes that made landfall in the Gulf region, Brazile was appointed by former Governor Kathleen Blanco to serve on the Louisiana Recovery Board to work for the rebuilding of the state and to advocate for the Gulf recovery on the national stage.
Ms. Brazile is the proud recipient of honorary doctorate degrees from Louisiana State University, North Carolina A&T State University, and Xavier University of Louisiana, the only historically Black, Catholic institution of higher education in the United States.
"It was absolutely wonderful! She provided the perfect amount of humor and inspiration to reenergize the group after a busy morning...it was a huge success!"
“Donna Brazile is just awesome. She was wonderful. She rocked and rolled, sang and danced, put together more one liners with a straight face than I have every heard one person do.....told her story. She was really great. THE AUDIENCE LOVED HER.”
You made a great impression and delivered a strong message several months ago, as our keynote speaker for Cleveland Clinic's 2014 MLK Day of Celebration. We continue to receive positive comments about your remarks that brought a personal, historical perspective to the work of Dr. King and its impact on you and your commitment to service."
"She was great! Great presentation, funny and personable, and she did a great job of keeping it non-partisan."