the interview
at the intersection of social justice and social media
Deja Foxx
One of America’s leading creators, activists, and political strategists, Deja Foxx is a trailblazer at the intersection of social justice and social media. The recipient of Planned Parenthood's Catalyst of Change award and the Global Citizen Prize, she lives and works in her home state of Arizona.
Share this article:
On 10 October, a month before the US election, Deja Foxx took a short break from campaigning for Harris to talk to Digital Progressive about the growing role of content creators in driving progressive change.
DP: We don’t yet know what’s going to happen on 5 November, but one thing is clear already; there’s been a huge shift between 2020 and 2024 in the way content creators – and Gen Z as a whole – are now at the heart of Democrat campaigning.
Deja Foxx: I was the influencer and surrogate strategist on Kamala Harris’s digital team in 2019 and you’re right – it’s a vastly different landscape today. Sixteen million young people have joined the US electorate since 2020 and the creator economy has ballooned over the same period, partly as a result of the pandemic. As a generation, we’ve become electorally and economically important, but we’re also genuinely excited about Kamala Harris. Within hours of Biden standing aside, thousands of people were creating Harris fancam edits, soundbite mashups and memes. She’s about ‘the politics’, but she’s also about ‘the culture’. You can have the best strategy in the world, but you still need the right candidate.
DP: The Harris campaign invited 200 content creators to the DNC, giving them full media credentials, facilities, and unprecedented access to delegates…
Deja Foxx: Which was the smartest thing they could have done. Most young people in the United States today say they get their news from social media. Engaging with this new media landscape gives progressive politicians, parties, and organizations an opportunity to meet young people where they are – where they're developing opinions which they’ll probably keep for the rest of their lives. Content creators are the bridge between politics and this generation of voters.
But it’s more than that. Traditionally, an event like the DNC is covered by journalists with their cameras trained on the stage. Inviting 200 content creators generated a huge amount of behind-the-scenes coverage. Creators doing interviews with elected officials and delegates who aren't going to be on CNN. They’re helping to build the bench, if you like – spotlighting people who might not be at the top of the ticket but who are central to our success.
It also gave creators at the convention an opportunity to connect with their peers, which means they’re better placed to collaborate, amplify each other's content, and help build a progressive media ecosystem which will outlast this election cycle. That’s crucial, because we’re competing against a very, very efficient ecosystem on the right.
DP: How can progressive parties and organizations get better at working with content creators?
Deja Foxx: Giving content creators access is important, whether it's inviting them to your fundraiser or rally or making sure they have a special area in front for your next speech – but you have to pick the right people. We want to reach new audiences, but we don’t necessarily want to pull in people who’ve never talked about politics before on their platform.
Start slowly. Ask a creator to post about an issue or politician on their story, and then ask them to react to a video or debate. Then you can start thinking about inviting them to an event. There are risks for creators in getting involved with politics – emotional, in terms of trolls – but also financial risks for career creators who might lose visibility on their platform. Tech companies have a habit of censoring creators who speak out on political issues.
But there are literally thousands of creators who would love the opportunity to take that leap into politics and engage more closely with issues they care about – to create real change and make deeper connections with their online communities.
Working with creators is important, but we also need to invest in the ability of our organizers – who have the political background, who know the lay of the land, who are experts in these spaces and races – to create their own platforms, and effective videos, and pieces of content.
As organizers we should absolutely work with content creators, and teach them how to build their political opinions, but we also need to stay open to what they can teach us about building an online community. Platforms have changed. Because of algorithms like For You on TikTok and Explore on Instagram, every video you put out has the potential to reach millions – which means you no longer need someone with a million followers to reach a million voters.
So we need to think more about developing content creation skills in the people who are already our best advocates. We need organizers to start journaling and getting started with friends and family. We need them to start listening to what creators can teach them about storytelling, because that's what every TikTok is about, and what every video and every marketing campaign you've ever seen is about. When people in politics open themselves up – sharing their personal stories and showing us how they intersect with what we see in the news everyday – I think they’ll be surprised at how digital audiences react to that kind of honesty.