Title: Communications director
Age: 27
Hometown: New Orleans
Education: Tufts University — B.A. in international relations with a minor in Latin American and environmental studies.
Last job: Natural Resources Defense Council, press secretary for legislative affairs
Biggest communications success: Beating back the Sarah Palin/Rush Limbaugh “death panel” lies, which FactCheck.org named the “Lie of the Year.”
Most memorable communications disaster: Planning a press conference — outside at 11 a.m. — in July of last year. You can imagine how hot it was. The event was to unveil Rep. Blumenauer’s Water Trust Fund, but it turns out the people most in need of water that day were the speakers at the event.
Best communications advice you’ve received: I’ve received lots of great advice from talented people, but on a particularly bad day, a friend reminded me that we live in a 24-hour news cycle. Tomorrow is another day and opportunity to get the right message out.
Most embarrassing moment on Capitol Hill: My boss is known for his biking, and every year he speaks at Ride Your Bike to Work Day. My first year in the office, I met my deputy chief of staff to bike to the event. It had rained the evening before, which made the roads slippery, and as we were crossing a bridge, he warned me to be careful. Before he could finish his sentence, I wiped out. While on the ground, a random cyclist rode by, looked down at me and mockingly hollered, “Happy Ride Your Bike to Work day!”
Interests outside of work: Running, yoga, live concerts, everything New Orleans (music, Saints, food), cooking, and spending time with my wonderful friends and family.
It was tough for Erin Allweiss to be all the way in London during Hurricane Katrina, watching from afar as her family evacuated their native New Orleans. She was working with the nonprofit Oxfam at the time, promoting issues surrounding poverty in Africa at the G8 Summit. But that didn’t keep Allweiss, now Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s (D-Ore.) communications director, from eventually finding a way to work on issues involving the disaster’s aftermath.
In 2006, when she came in contact with Blumenauer through another nonprofit she was involved with, Mercy Corps, she knew she wanted to work with a congressman so focused on Katrina-related issues, such as flood insurance reform. And within a matter of months, she landed a job in Blumenauer’s office.
Allweiss has also been able to help the congressman work on various environmental issues close to her heart.
She has incorporated her healthful lifestyle into her work life alongside a boss who champions bringing fitness to the workplace.
“The congressman is very understanding if people want to run or bike to work, or if they want to take a break in the middle of the day to exercise,” Allweiss said.
Overall, Allweiss offers a glowing assessment of her time in Blumenauer’s office.
“It’s been an unbelievable and amazing experience,” she said.
To have your office featured on Inside the Office of…, contact Kris Kitto at 202-628-8539 or kkitto@digital-staging.thehill.com.