From Wisconsin to Washington, alum aids co If you follow Congresswoman Gwen Moore’s social media, you have Emma Rappaport to thank for some of those Tweets. Rappaport graduated from UWM in 2018 after majoring in journalism with a focus on advertising and public relations. Today, she’s a press intern in the Congresswoman’s office, drafting press releases, newsletters, and social media posts to help spread Moore’s legislative ideas and messages. Rappaport spoke about her internship and her decision to jump into politics at an especially fraught time in the Capitol. Let’s start with a bit about you – what drew you to public relations? I originally went to UWM for teaching because I like learning and being
able to share my knowledge. While I realized that wasn’t the path for me, I always knew that I had a strength for writing. I found JAMS (Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies) through a friend of mine in one of my gen eds. As I got further along and took more JAMS classes, I realized I liked creating content, and especially copy for advertising. How did you end up interning in Washington, D.C.? I’m actually working remotely right now, so I’m remotely in D.C. I’m on Eastern Time for work, but I’m actually still in Wisconsin. Pretty much any Democrat from Wisconsin that worked in Congress, I just went and applied for their general (internships), as well as some more political-based nonprofits. I applied to the National Organization for Women, the DNC, and the ACLU. I ended up
hearing back from Congresswoman Gwen Moore – full circle back to Milwaukee! – and they referred me back to their press secretary. I’m from Milwaukee. Just having those Milwaukee ties and having a bit of a journalism background (really helped). I interviewed with the press secretary and they liked what I had to say and what I had done in the past, and now I’m here! This seems like an interesting time to get into politics, what with a tense situation in Washington after the 2020 election and the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. What made you decide to jump in now? I found out I had the internship at the beginning of December. I started working when the new administration started. On Jan. 6, that was in the in-between period where I hadn’t started yet, but I knew everything that was happening. It took me aback. Just having a connection with that gave me a bit of a different perspective on events. I knew I wanted to get into politics now after the past four years and after everything that transpired in 2020. With my personal beliefs … and knowing that I would work with (Gwen Moore) in the Progressive caucus who has strong values and ties to the community and being involved with the action – that’s what draws me to politics. As a press intern, what do you do?
Journalism, advertising, and media studies alum Emma Rappoport graduated in 2018. Photo courtesy of Emma Rappaport. 14 • IN FOCUS • March, 2021
I work under the press secretary in Gwen Moore’s office. The press secretary is the head of all of the communication. Daily, I’ll draft social media content to send to her. Depending on what’s going on and how the news flow changes,
