Welcome to the Pink Granite Blog

Follow along for professional development tips, written features of Texas political experts, and the occassional frivolous banter.

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Personal Privilege

    I recently had the pleasure of getting to know Jillian Bliss – a staff attorney with the General Land Office. I’ll let her describe her work in our latest Pink Granite interview below, but she’s the real deal you guys! I’m so excited to share that she is also joining Pink Granite as […]

Jillian Bliss: Staff Attorney at the Texas General Land Office

Interview

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After over a year of posting interviews on Pink Granite, I’ve slowly started to receive a stream of suggestions from readers regarding who they’d like to hear from working in and around the Capitol. It’s consistently been recommended to me that I reach out to the dynamic lobbying duo this is Lisa Kaufman and Denise […]

Denise Davis & Lisa Kaufman: Texas Contract Lobbyists

Interview

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Amy Rister has worked in various offices around the Texas Capitol for over a decade now – and she’s barely in her thirties! In this Pink Granite interview she brings us her unique perspective on what it’s been like to work for legislators of different parties but also what it’s like to work on behalf […]

Amy Rister: Chief of Staff for Representative Poncho Nevárez

Interview

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    Being a relatively new lobbyist to the state of Texas myself, I was quick to survey the landscape when I arrived off the truck from Wisconsin in 2015. Yes, Wisconsin.  Who else is here, who looks like me and how did they get to where they are? I’ll admit I was quick to look […]

Carrie Simmons: Texas Contract Lobbyist

Interview

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   As a testament to her support for other women working in and around the Texas Capitol – Lara Keel of the Texas Lobby Group never hesitated to be interviewed for Pink Granite’s May feature despite the fact that she and I don’t know one another well. We connected through her associate Carrie who greatly […]

Lara Keel: Texas Contract Lobbyist

Interview

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    I had the pleasure of meeting candidate for Texas HD 112 and her campaign manager, Tina during a recent visit to Dallas. We ran into one another at a Texas Tribune event – but Tina had already been doing her homework to solicit an interview with Pink Granite to spread the word about […]

Brandy Chambers: Democratic Nominee for Texas HD 112

Interview

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    I often shoot messages out into the internet via social media asking young women who they would like to hear from on Pink Granite. “Who should I interview and what do you want to know?”  Last time I did this there was a swell of ladies that commented to me that they would […]

Missy Shorey: Dallas County GOP Chair

Interview

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    It is such a privilege to share this latest interview with Pink Granite readers. If you’ve been around Texas politics for awhile it’s likely that you know Jenifer Sarver – especially if you’re a Republican in Texas. Jenifer is a well-established public relations professional who owns her own small shop here in Austin. […]

Jenifer Sarver: Candidate for Texas Congressional District 21

Interview

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    For many months I have lurked around Instagram, taking note of Legislative Director Molly Spratt’s personal posts on bullet journaling throughout the year. I’m always impressed with how Texas Capitol staffers juggle all of their ever-changing tasks – this bullet journaling thing was a completely foreign idea to me and seems like an interesting […]

Molly Spratt: Legislative Director for Representative Dan Huberty

Interview

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