Today we’d like to introduce you to Brooke López and Adrianna Maberry.
Lone Star Parity Project was a concept crafted by founders Brooke López and Adrianna Maberry, both long-time residents of Dallas, Texas. After running for city council in North Texas at the age of 18, Brooke López realized that women seeking public office found greater difficulty than their male counterparts. As a candidate, Lopez also realized that there were major components to a race for office that cannot easily be known without firsthand experience. These topics ranged from local organizations to seek endorsements to finding viable campaign managers in the area. This information is essential to competing in a successful or competitive campaign for office but is only known after running, leaving newcomers and potential first-time candidates at a disadvantage.
López began sharing her story of campaigning with others and realized that the “real-life” advice she was able to provide was extremely beneficial to candidates. As fellow alumni from the same alma mater (whoosh), she partnered with data fanatic and GIS-extraordinaire Adrianna Maberry under the Texas Civic Ambassador Program, courtesy of the Annette Straus Institute, and began combining the value of firsthand experience with the power of research. It is the goal of Maberry and López to utilize their specialties to gather a team of influential change-makers from across the State of Texas, under the mission of sharing inside tips, tools, and advice with potential female candidates.
Has it been a smooth road?
Thus far, we have faced rarely any opponents. However, we have seen an odd tension with folks who don’t believe gender disparity is prevalent in politics – almost as if they were “non-believers” in the research we have presented. We see the potential for opponents in those that have disregarded gender parity as a whole, including the movement to see more women and femmes serve in elected office. These entities can “troll” or mock our online presence, although, we haven’t faced this opposition yet.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Lone Star Parity Project story. Tell us more about the business.
Lone Star Parity Project is dedicated to sharing the stories of women and femmes in Texas politics with a goal of discovering useful trends and tools that, once utilized, can ensure political parity to the state, across all levels of government.
Our main goals are to share the advice and stories of participants, analyze current and past trends in political research, and compile results into tool kits for women and femmes entering the political profession that will be particular to each corner of Texas.
The organization maintains two important components: research and features. The research aspect provides a one-stop location for trends and patterns related to women elected to office, as well as works to understand the underlying influences that affect women and femmes in politics. Our ‘Features’ section brings our research to life by gathering the stories of those who are currently involved within the Texas realm of politics and provides uncanny insight to illustrate the rich fabric of women’s experiences. By combining these two facets, the Lone Star Parity Project will have the opportunity to create toolkits for women hoping to seek office from all corners of Texas with specific information catered to their geographic location.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
An excerpt from our ‘State of the Texas Woman 2019’: “Nearly two decades after the first-coined “Year of the Woman” in 1992, 2018 brought the largest surge of women and femme candidates than ever before. 2018 marked the dawn of a new era for women in politics – particularly in Texas. The Lone Star state was among many states to reach an insurmountable level of “firsts” during the most recent election cycle. The 2018 midterm election was guided by a new, non-partisan approach from voters in Texas that promoted the growth of democracy. Over fifteen million Texans were registered to vote for the election this past November 6th – the most registered voters that the state has ever seen. Texans elected their first Latinas to Congress: Congresswomen Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia. The first same-spouse couple entered the Texas Legislative Ladies club after the election of State Representative Julie Johnson. The Texas Legislature formed its first LGBT Caucus, dedicated to active representation of the LGBT community in the policymaking process. There were nine state- and federal-level seats that witnessed head-to-head women campaigns, giving each seat a 100% chance of a woman being elected. Harris County received national attention after the election of nineteen African-American women judges, creating a phenomenal, history-making bench. Finally, Texas became the new unofficial swing state of the country, bringing Texas politics into a new, nationwide scope.
As 2018 progressed, so did the growth of the Lone Star Parity Project. We built our own database from the ground up, capturing data points that have never been aggregated before. We launched our first voting campaign for the midterms that introduced a non-partisan voter education headquarters, including tools to find polling locations, voting rights resources, and up-to-date news streams from the Secretary of State. And we’re continuing this momentum into 2019 by releasing our first in-house research report on the 2018 general election cycle.”
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lonestarparityproject.org
- Email: info@lonestarparityproject.org
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/lonestarparity
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/lonestarparity
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/lonestarparity
- Other: www.linkedin.com/company/lonestarparityproject
Image Credit:
Erin Schaff
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
