San Francisco, CA
My name was given to me at birth. Honest was my great-grandfatherʼs nickname—he started a business named Honest Charleyʼs Speed Shop, which was the first national catalog to sell hot rod and race car parts. Most of my friends and colleagues call me Charley, but I also go by my first name, Honest. I welcome a good joke or two about my name.
I have a passion for technology, design, and civics. I graduated from Ithaca College in 2014 with a bachelor of science in broadcast media production. I started my career in 2014 at the Los Angeles Times, where I was a data journalist and product engineer. I went on in 2018 to found my own company, Yellow Brim, which sold a subscription software named Osmosys to clients that included the Los Angeles Times, Vox Media, CalMatters, and Lookout Local to help them more efficiently send daily newsletters to readers.
After leaving Yellow Brim in 2022, I led an international team of engineers at Converge Insurance as a founding engineer to launch a completely new underwriting platform from 2022 to 2023.
During the 2024 election cycle, I was Director of Campaign Operations for the Dylan Hirsch-Shell for San Francisco Mayor campaign, after I suspended my own campaign for Mayor. I managed an organization of 4 and tens of volunteers. I was responsible for operationalizing the campaign; development of strategic messaging; speechwriting; event management; designing, printing, and sending direct mail to hundreds of thousands of voters; designing several print and digital advertisements for several newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle; and building a web application that enabled our team to target voters, phone bank, and canvass thousands of doors. We ultimately earned the votes of thousands of San Franciscans, with an expenditure effectiveness of $49/vote, and even less when considering ranked choice voting, which was more competitive than several other campaigns that had built-in earned media due to existing name recognition.
I‘m currently open to work. I‘m particularly interested in roles that involve some combination of design, media, data, technology, civics, and making positive change in the world. Fundamentally though, I love working with good people, so if you‘re a good person looking for someone with my skills, I‘d love to hear from you.
Thank you for your interest,
Honest
Messaging, design, address aggregation, targeting, printing, and sending of over 250,000 mailers sent to San Francisco voters for the Dylan Hirsch-Shell for Mayor 2024 campaign. According to our printing press, we innovated the use of per-mailer QR codes to track the effectiveness of our mailers. An accompanying flyer was designed that we handed out at events and canvassing.
Messaging, design, and targetting of over 300,000 email blasts sent to San Francisco voters for the Dylan Hirsch-Shell for Mayor 2024 campaign. We used a custom CRM to target voters based on census data, donor data, voter registration data, and geographic information. We sent small batches of emails to A-B test messaging and design, reaching a maximum open rate of 45%.
Development of a custom CRM and canvassing app for minimal monthly cost, enabling the Dylan Hirsch-Shell for Mayor 2024 campaign to store over half a million voter records, target voters using local and federal donor data, phone bank, and canvass thousands of doors. No-frills design and development allowed for rapid deployment and iteration.
Managed in-person and virtual events for the Dylan Hirsch-Shell for Mayor 2024 campaign, coordinating volunteers and interns to drive voters to events with strategic messaging and event planning. Events ranged from weekly volunteer efforts to larger meet-the-candidate events. Events were planned and executed strategically to maximize voter engagement and the candidate's time.
Development of an enterprise web application named Osmosys for Yellow Brim—a startup that I cofounded—that automated email production for journalists. We sold our software to clients that included the Los Angeles Times, Vox Media, CalMatters, and Lookout Local. Osmosys features a drag-and-drop email editor, integrations with several ESPs, and custom integrations with any CMS.
Development of a live blog for the Los Angeles Times that was used to cover the 2016 Presidential election, 2016 Summer Olympics, and was instrumental of our Pulitzer Prize-winning breaking-news coverage of the 2015 San Bernardino Terrorist Attack. Working closely with the journalists in the newsroom, I helped design the UX for the liveblog desktop and mobile applications.
Design and development of a data-driven news article featuring an interactive map and chart chronicling the history of Los Angeles' failing water infrastructure. Worked closely with journalists and designers on the Data Desk.
View ProjectOver the course of my career, I've worked with numerous clients to design, develop, and launch brands, websites, and printed materials or signage. I've combined a set of skills ranging from graphic design to Python or Node.JS with a deep understanding of various domains from small businesses to large media brands to political campaigns.