"I never unplug. I sleep with my iPhone next to my pillow."
When Valeisha Butterfield-Jones first met Barack Obama in 2006, she spent just five minutes with him but was instantly inspired. "He talked about passing the torch to young people," she says. "He was so genuine." So while working her day job, she volunteered for Obama's 2008 campaign. He subsequently hired her, and this year she's in charge of reaching the more than 56 million Americans between the ages of 18 and 30. "My deputy called at 1:00 A.M. the other night, and we brainstormed for over an hour," she says. "Sometimes you get the best ideas in those moments." That kind of excitement keeps Butterfield-Jones, who at press time was about to give birth to her first child, energized. "I'm doing this for all young people," she says, "and I'm doing this for my son."
"Have the guts to walk into the unknown. I cold-called Russell Simmons for a job. I said, Give me this opportunity, and I will make you proud.' He did, and I did."
"Those first weeks on the job are crucial. Lie low and be a sponge. Listen and observe."
"Mistakes happen. Own up to them. Say, I screwed up, here is how, and I'm never letting it happen again.'"
• • •
"Some days I get 100 emails an hour."
Four years ago, Andrea Saul was working for then presidential candidate John McCain when she was introduced to Mitt Romney. "He couldn't have been friendlier," she recalls. Impressed by his command of the issues—"it was clear there was nothing I could tell him that he didn't know," she says—Saul decided "if I were to work on another campaign, that's where I'd want to be." Wish granted. Now she's Romney's campaign press secretary, a position that puts her in line for a job in the West Wing should he win. She spends her days traveling with the candidate ("He walks so fast that I can't keep up if I have heels on!") and making her own TV appearances. "It can be exhausting," says Saul, "but it's easier to work long hours when you know there's an end date and a worthy goal in sight."
"Always send thank-you notes and treat others with respect."
"Work for someone you like and you'll go the extra mile. Governor Romney is extremely kind. He'll grab my suitcase when we're running up stairs and carry it for me."
"Take on as much work as you can. But as soon as you're at your capacity, find people who can pick up the slack."
