6:30 p.m.
She built one of the most influential political digital media operations in the USA. Now Camille Zapata — digital strategist and the mind behind Governor Gavin Newsom’s media empire — brings that story to you. In conversation with UW’s Jevin West, Zapata breaks down how narratives are built, how messages move across platforms, and what it takes to shape political power in real time. This is the conversation behind the conversation.
Biography:
Camille Zapata is a digital strategist and communications executive working at the forefront of how power, politics, and storytelling operate in the modern media landscape. She serves as Digital Director for California Governor Gavin Newsom, where she leads one of the most influential public-sector digital operations in the United States, shaping narrative, driving cultural relevance, and positioning California at the center of national and global attention.
At the Governor’s Office, Zapata has developed a model for government communication rooted in the dynamics of the global attention economy. Her work translates complex policy into culturally fluent, mass-consumed storytelling that reaches hundreds of millions of people and influences how political ideas move across platforms, communities, and borders. Her approach to digital political communication has been recognized by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Vanity Fair for shaping how public leaders engage audiences in an era defined by speed, skepticism, and saturation.
Zapata’s career spans campaigns, government, and movement-building, where she operates at the intersection of strategy and storytelling. From managing a winning State Senate race to advancing public health and equity initiatives at the local level, her work focuses on building narratives that move people and deepen public understanding. She serves as President of California Women’s List and is a graduate student in Public Relations Innovation, Strategy, and Management at the University of Southern California. Across her work and research, Zapata is driven by a central question: who gets to shape the story, and what are the consequences when they do.
Moderator:
Jevin West is the co-founder of the Center for an Informed Public at UW aimed at resisting strategic misinformation, promoting an informed society and strengthening democratic discourse. His research and teaching focus on the impact of data and technology on science and society, with a focus on slowing the spread of misinformation. He is the co-author of the new book, Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World, which helps non-experts question numbers, data, and statistics without an advanced degree in data science.
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