The 2025 Ready to Run® Iowa: Campaign Training for Women workshop series wrapped up on April 25 with two workshops held at Iowa State University’s Reiman Gardens. The six half-day workshops were offered on Feb. 21, March 28 and April 25 by the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics.
“Every session reminded me why we do this work,” said Carrie Ann Johnson, associate director of outreach and communication for the Catt Center and coordinator of Ready to Run Iowa. “I loved seeing participants step into their power and commit to public service.”
The 2025 series concluded with the workshops “Campaign Messaging” in the morning and “Talking to Constituents” in the afternoon.
The first session of the morning, “Crafting a Campaign Message,” was led by Amy McCoy, assistant professor of strategic political communication and public relations at Drake University, who shared the process for creating an overarching campaign message. A writing workshop where participants began working on their own campaign message followed, facilitated by McCoy, Johnson and Kelly Winfrey, director of the women’s and gender studies program and associate professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication.
For the final session of the morning, “Media Attention and Interviews,” political journalists Jeff Angelo (host of The WHO Morning Show with Jeff Angelo), Dana James (writer and founder of Black Iowa Newspaper) and Skylar Tallal (statehouse reporter for the Sinclair Broadcast Group) shared tips for getting media attention and holding interviews with reporters.
During the luncheon between the morning and afternoon workshops, participants had the opportunity to network with other participants and have a headshot photo taken by Catt Center staff.
“I enjoyed watching everyone’s connection with each other,” Johnson said. “Regardless of partisan leanings, our participants found ways to build networks with others who care deeply about their communities and the world around them.”
The afternoon workshop opened with the session “Taking the Mic: Forums, Debates and Stump Speeches,” where Winfrey shared tips on how to best communicate a campaign message. That was followed by the session “Internet Strategies, Tools and Resources,” where Johnson provided tips on the effective use of social media for candidates to share their campaign message and mobilize voters.
In the final session of the day, “Fieldwork and Direct Voter Contact,” panelists Shannon Brisbois (director of strategic community partnerships for Vision Leads), Paula Dierenfeld (mayor of Johnston, Iowa) and Heather Jones-Brown (diversity and inclusion specialist for staff equity at Grinnell College) discussed the ways that candidates and campaign staff can communicate directly with constituents to hear what matters to them and to get out the vote.
“The Catt Center is honored to host Ready to Run every two years. Our participants showcase everything that we could ask for in public servants: intelligence, enthusiasm and commitment to the common good,” said Karen Kedrowski, Catt Center director.
Ready to Run Iowa is a nonpartisan campaign training program to encourage women to run for elected office, position themselves for appointive office, work on a campaign or become involved in public life as leaders in their respective communities. Although some of the workshops address topics unique to women as they seek greater participation in the political process, the training is open to everyone. The Catt Center has offered Ready to Run Iowa every other year since 2007. The next Ready to Run Iowa workshops will be offered in the spring of 2027. Email the Catt Center at cattcntr@iastate.edu to add your name to the Ready to Run® Iowa mailing list.