Richard Santos - Washington, DC

Since leaving the Yes We Can Training I have been contacted by campaigns in Arizona, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington State. I am currently working as an Account Representative at MSHC Partners, one of the most respected Democratic direct mail firms in the country. The training has helped me in almost every aspect of my work at MSHC. My duties include consulting with clients on their mail pieces, helping to devise strategy and messaging for entire mail plans and individual mail pieces, and working closely with the creative and production departments to make sure our pieces hit mailboxes at the right time. The training has helped me succeed in all of these aspects of my job.

Yes We Can gave me the practical knowledge necessary to help Democrats win elections, and also the confidence and political savvy needed to succeed in electoral politics. The message development aspect of my job requires me to read polls, conduct research and help identify the issues to which voters respond. Each of the sessions on these subjects during the training helped prepare me for this job.

The ability to interact with so many prominent Democratic consultants and leaders was truly astonishing and inspiring. It allowed us to get an angle on politics that no textbook ever could. I think that so many people simply don't know how to enter politics, or if they do, they don't know what they're doing once they get there. But Yes We Can gave me the opportunity to interact with and learn from some of the most successful people in the business. The classes were great, and incredibly informative, but one of the best opportunities we had was the chance to hear amazing stories about our trainer's previous campaigns.

That's part of why the program is so great. You come out of it with practical training and the intangibles that only come with experience, but which are essential to working on a campaign. Even if you go into Yes We Can with no campaign experience, the stories you hear, the people you meet and the classes you take, will make you feel like an old pro.

I wholeheartedly recommend this program; it's an amazing opportunity to quickly learn an incredible amount about how politics works. Reading about politics and following elections from the sidelines is not enough to enter the field. Yes We Can provided me with practical knowledge about how campaigns work, how they're structured, how they progress, why they succeed and why they fail. I will take the lessons I learned in the program with me to my next job, and I know my experiences in the training will help me help Democrats win this year, and in the future.