The 2016 election cycle energized millions of people to get involved in the political process. Kate Yeager is one of those people.
“After the 2016 election, I felt like I couldn’t sit idle and watch our government go in the direction that it was going,” she said.
Yeager graduated from Klein College of Media and Communication in December 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in strategic communication. When she started at Temple University in 2015, she was undeclared, but after taking intro to public relations, she changed her major. She was the director of public relations at PRowl Public Relations and was a peer advisor at Klein College. She even studied at Temple Rome in the fall of 2017.
After interning with public relations agencies in Philadelphia, she realized that agency life wasn’t her calling.
Yeager interned first in the press department for Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney, then the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce and finally on Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf’s re-election campaign.
Now, Yeager has reached Washington, D.C. as a press intern for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office. Among her duties are reviewing daily articles about Pelosi, assisting with event setup and directing questions from reporters.
She even attended this year’s State of the Union address by President Donald Trump.
Yeager’s feelings of excitement have not dissipated since beginning her political press career.
“The other day I was waiting for my bus, and a congressman was just walking by me, and I thought, ‘Only in D.C,'” she said.
Yeager doesn’t remember being interested in politics before 2016, but she does have a history with public service. She had been a girl scout for 12 years and her parents are both high school teachers in New Jersey. She said it seems natural for her.
One of her goals is to work on a presidential campaign, which she hopes to accomplish in the 2024 presidential election cycle.
Other than that, Yeager said she doesn’t necessarily know where her career will take her. Getting political jobs can be such a fickle game, and although she ponders if her career path will take her into the private or public sector in public relations or as a candidate, she doesn’t seem to worry.
She hopes to get a job in Washington D.C. after her internship ends with Pelosi’s office, and people are already helping her network for positions.
Yeager feels strongly about sticking to her values, though.
“I don’t think I could ever work for someone that I wouldn’t be able to give good P.R. to,” she said.
Although her next steps aren’t known, Yeager is extremely proud to be working alongside Pelosi, whom she admires.
“She is such an amazing role model. Politics aside, you can’t deny that she is a fierce woman who stands up for what she believes in and doesn’t back down,” Yeager said. “As a woman, that’s been very inspiring to me.”
Originally published at Klein.Temple.edu