Too Young? Too Old? No. You Are Just Right!

At the end of July I posted about an ongoing project I'm working on --- Ageism, Women and Campaigns. Here it is.

Subsequently, I wrote two Substack pieces, inviting women Democrats, over the age of 50, to share their experiences. Link here:

Needless to say, the responses were overwhelming. The bottom line: we all recognize Ageism, Women and Campaigns is a systemic problem, not just within the political community as it turns out, but a pervasive issue spanning every profession.

A number of weeks ago a friend related a soul-crushing experience of a seasoned, well-accomplished woman, holding a proven track-record with a swath of successful campaigns on her resume. She was a strong candidate for a campaign operative position. More than qualified. She was passed over by someone much younger, less experienced with not even a scintilla of breadth of power and authority.

Hoping against hope campaigns and employers will change out of this current system any time soon, is whistling in the wind. It won’t happen. Not in our lifetime.

But we can become the Change Agents in this environment. We’ve done it before, we can do it again. After all, we built movements for decades, most of the time from whole cloth, gathered around our kitchen tables and living rooms creating coalitions.

Any change to the system rests in our hands.

So I am proposing the following for those interested:

Immediate Next Steps

Create a private space - Consider a private LinkedIn, Facebook group, Slack channel, or email list where we can connect directly with each other, building a network that becomes the foundation for action.

Define the scope - Are we focusing just on Democratic campaigns, or broader political work? Just consultants/operatives, or also including electeds, donors, board members?

Potential Action Areas

Economic leverage - We likely represent millions in combined billing, fundraising capacity, and network influence. That's real power.

Alternative structures - Create consulting cooperatives, advisory groups, or new organizations that explicitly value our experience.

We could also create a potential dual-track approach.

Track 1: Immediate Relief

• Job/contract sharing network among the group

• Referral system where members actively recommend each other

• "Gray hair, don't care" client list - campaigns/orgs that explicitly value experience

• Consulting collective that presents as a unified entity with depth of experience as the selling point

Track 2: System Change

• Coordinated pressure on major Democratic consulting firms, PACs, campaign organizations

• Public accountability campaigns (naming organizations with poor age diversity)

• Economic leverage - coordinated decisions about where to spend/donate/recommend spending

• Creating new organizations/structures that explicitly counter ageism

If any of the above appeals to your liking, time and bandwidth, send me a message.

Some additional thoughts:

I founded an organization while living in California - Welead OC. We train Progressive Women Democrats to run for local offices, work in campaigns and sharpen their activist/organizing skills. Since relocating back to Washington, DC, we’ve been working to expand beyond the California border. The three-day deep-dive training is free.

We have scheduled a Virtual training for this January — January 23rd thru January 25th. If you are a woman, a Democrat, over 50, have campaign experience (managing, fundraising, voter contact/field organizing, messaging, telling your story, social media/digital media, communications) we could use you to lead one of our training modules. Please reach out to me,

describing your experience. While at this very moment, there is no compensation involved (we’re working on that), our trainees would benefit tremendously, learning from seasoned, successful women who forged the path for today’s Progressive Women Democrats to successfully run for office.

Here is a copy of the Save-the-Date

In addition, the Thursday evening before the training begins, January 22nd, Welead OC will be hosting a Kick-Off event. We would like to feature women over 50 who have worked in campaigns. You deserve the recognition. If you live in the DC, MD or VA area, and would be interested in being featured during our Kick-Off on January 22nd, please send me message, providing your background and experience.

Here is a copy of the Save-the-Date, January 22, 2026 Kick-Off event.

Just some thoughts I'm throwing out there.

Let me know what you think!