April 7, 2025 • 12 mins
Chloe Gayer is a Government Affairs Associate at Advocacy Cooperative. She is a finalist for the Courage Award.
Instagram: www.instagram.com/chloe_gayer
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chloe-gayer
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome to the Inspiring Women of Iowa podcast,
a special series
amplifying the stories of the Inspiring Women of Iowa Finalists.
Inspiring Women of Iowa is an annual event hosted by Girl
Scouts of Greater
Iowa with the goal of celebrating women of courage,
confidence and character who are making the world
(00:27):
a better place.
Why does that sound familiar?
Well, because it also happens
to be the mission of the Girl Scouts,
where they believe society is better because strong
women show girls that anything is possible.
This event was created by Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa in 2017
to celebrate women in our community
(00:48):
and share their stories, while raising support
for the Girl Scout programs
that build the next generation of inspiring women.
16 individuals are celebrated annually with the Courage,
Confidence, Character and Inspiring Advocate for Women Awards.
I'm your host, Sarah Noll Wilson.
I am a business owner, a champion of women, and I'm
(01:10):
also a proud Girl Scout alum.
So massive love to troop 238.
And I am honored to have the chance to speak with these amazing,
inspiring women and to share their stories with you.
Joining me today is Chloe Gayer.
She is the government affairs associate at Advocacy Cooperative,
(01:33):
and she has been nominated as a finalist for the Courage Award.
Thanks for coming and talking to me, Chloe.
Thanks for inviting me.
Yeah, I'm excited to.
I'm excited to hear more about you.
Before we get into
what's the impact you're trying to make on this world?
Just I always like to open it up with.
What else should we know about you?
That's a lot.
(01:54):
Yeah. It's very broad.
Just what
what would be most important for us to know about you?
I'm a senior at Drake University.
Okay.
Which is super cool.
I'm about to graduate in a few months, which is super awesome.
I'm studying American politics.
I've taken a lot of classes, like communication world
and that stuff, too.
I'm a very proud dog mom of a two year old Rottweiler
(02:15):
boxer mix.
She is my pride and joy.
Yeah. What's her name?
Her name is Nova George.
She was named after Drake's University's mascot.
Griff . Griff Two. His
home name is George.
So he and Nova are besties.
What?
What,
what was the pull towards American politics as your study?
(02:38):
Oh, okay.
So I am not someone who ever wanted to go into politics.
In fact, I hated it so much.
All throughout, like, high school and everything.
That was the last thing I wanted to do.
In fact, I wanted to do, like, animal husbandry,
which is like, working with animals,
bringing baby animals into the world.
It's the greatest thing ever.
Is why I have my cow mug.
(03:00):
Got it.
For people who are.
For people
who are listening and don't see this, Chloe has a mug that is a,
cow spots, and the feet are udders, and it's awesome.
It's pretty wonderful.
Shout out to the Girl Scout in high school who gave it to me.
I still use it to this day. Yeah.
So I was.
(03:21):
It was right after Parkland shooting happened,
and I saw a bunch of people
who were pretty much my age or a little bit older,
that were essentially standing up and saying, like,
hey, we may not be able to vote, we may not, be able,
be 21, be able to run for office or 25 or whatever the state.
But we still want to have a say in our government.
(03:41):
And I remember just, like, feeling so empowered by that.
And so I decided to get involved and some wonderful people
at Everytown for Gun Safety who I worked with for five years,
who have encouraged me and pushed me to do,
what was at that time political communications.
Yeah.
Which is all about the way that, like, words impact
(04:01):
politics and impact public opinion.
And it's a really cool and really, really nerdy study to do.
And if you ever watched West Wing,
it's like the speech writers like that’s what I wanted to do.
And then I came along and I was like, oh,
maybe communications is not the best thing
to be doing in this environment.
Not that it's not ever going to have like a crazy impact.
(04:23):
Communication is always going to be important.
But,
you know,
I was, job security
as a young person was really important to me.
So then I pushed and I discovered health care policy.
And I fell in love with it.
And I fell in love with the grassroots side of things.
Working with, like, everyday people.
People who have no idea about politics.
Just like I did when I was a younger kid.
(04:44):
And getting to work with them and making sure their voice
felt powered, empowered.
Just like I did when I was a little, little person.
Not.
That's not what I want to say, but a younger person.
Back in 2019.
Yeah. Yeah.
What? So. Okay.
So with where you are now.
With what you know, with the world we're in now.
(05:07):
As of recording this.
What what is the impact that you want to make?
Like, what is the what's the.
I don't want to say legacy because you're just building it.
But we we all are making impact all the time.
And so what's the impact that really drives you?
I think my biggest thing is I want politics to feel accessible.
Politics is this really big word.
(05:30):
And it sounds really, really scary, but it's not,
it's something that people are
every single person is a part of.
It's something that surrounds all of us.
It's not distant, far off.
It's not in D.C., it's not in Des Moines.
It's everywhere. It's on our kitchen tables.
It's,
you know,
when you get your coffee in the morning, whatever it is, it's.
That is all politics.
(05:51):
And the people we elect are elected to represent us.
They're not just, you know, they're just people.
And I think that's something that people are really scared of.
But we have
every single person has a right
in the First Amendment to petition
their government to have their voice be heard.
And that's the impact that I want to leave
is to have as many people as possible,
no matter what your views are.
(06:12):
What side of the spectrum
you live on feel that their voice matters because it does.
Yeah.
That, I'm not surprised that you're nominated
for the Courage Award,
because effectively, what I hear
you're trying to do is how do you help give people clarity
so that they can have more courage in using, using their voice
and being able to speak up.
When you think about when you think about again
(06:34):
where you're at in this work.
What does courage look like for you in this moment?
I think
courage is the ability to get up every morning.
No matter what happens on the news.
It's the ability to put what's happening
on national politics away
and focus on what affects you every day.
(06:55):
It's being able to,
you know, go buy eggs, even if the prices are getting higher
and still know that,
you know,
you have the courage to feed your family and to make it work.
And I think in my role, it's
having the courage to listen, and not talk.
That's something that's really,
really hard to do in politics is, you know,
(07:17):
rely on your ears more than your mouth.
And I think that's something that's really hard to do
because of how partisan everything is.
But I also remind everyone that it's really not that partisan.
90% of issues that go through the state capitol or in DC are
bipartisan issues.
They are things that support everyday
Iowans, everyday Americans.
(07:37):
And so having the courage to look past that is important.
Who inspires you?
Like, who is one person who inspires you?
Because I love
I am excited to ask this question
because you're obviously being nominated
as somebody who's an inspiring woman of Iowa.
So who inspires you?
The high schoolers.
(07:58):
The people that are younger than me.
Yeah.
Pretty much
every day
when I'm up at the Capitol,
there's some group of high schoolers up there.
And whether it's
that they got dragged there by their
AP government teacher, which happens a lot, or that they felt
so moved by a bill
or by an issue that they took time out of their school day.
(08:18):
They called their mom
or their dad or their adult to bring them to the Capitol.
That, to me, is so powerful to watch that other people,
other young people, feel this fire inside of them.
And they're willing to put themselves out there.
I,
that is so refreshing to hear.
(08:40):
And the reason is, I, I'm,
I largely am working with executives and organizations.
And for many of them, they get very confused
or, misunderstand the younger generation.
And so often I find I'm in a situation to go,
And and what gifts do they bring?
And I know that this, so I just I really appreciate that.
(09:02):
What,
you know, for people who are listening to this or watching this.
What would be one message that you would want them to hear
from how you're trying to show up, the impact
you're trying to make, what you see
as really important in the world we're in right now,
what would you want them to leave with?
There's two things.
(09:22):
First one is what I said earlier.
Your most powerful asset is your ears.
It's not your mouth. Words are really, really powerful.
Don't get me wrong.
The things that we say, the things we put on the social media,
they're really powerful.
But if you want to make a difference, you have to listen,
and you have to understand the other side.
And the second thing is that politics isn’t distant.
(09:45):
It's not a big scary thing.
Even if people have really cool titles in front of their name,
they're just people.
They're just neighbors. They still go grocery shopping.
You know, they still have all the same values and,
things that we everyone else does.
You know, politics is it's in the conversations
(10:05):
we have, it's in the decisions we make.
It's in the way that we show up in the world.
And you don't have to have a fancy
title or, have expert knowledge to show up.
Yeah. You just need to do it. Yeah.
So if you see something that you think
needs fixing, then you have to get up and do it.
And you, you know it.
(10:27):
When change happens is when we stop thinking of it
as someone else's job.
It's our job as citizens in a democracy to stand up.
Not to wait for
permission, but to step up and do the work.
I love that.
If Chloe, if people are listening to this
and they want to connect with you, either to you know, like,
send you a message to learn more about the journey you're on,
(10:49):
what would be the best way for people to connect with you?
Yeah.
All my social media has the same handle.
It's just Chloe underscore Gayer.
Other than that, my email,
the perks of being a lobbyist
is that my email and phone number are public information.
They are the third thing that comes up when you Google me.
So everyone is free to contact me.
Whether you are in Des
Moines, Iowa, or random county in Alaska.
(11:10):
I love it.
Chloe, thank you so much for sharing your time,
your talent, and I cannot I can't wait to see what you do.
I mean,
you like the impact you made, as always, has already been great,
and you're just getting started, so thank you.
Thank you.
(11:30):
The 2025 Inspiring Women of Iowa event will be held
on May 9th at the Meadows Events and Conference Center.
To purchase tickets
and get more information about supporting this event, please
visit Inspiring Women of Iowa dot com and all proceeds
from this fundraising event stay 100% local
to benefit Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa and their mission
(11:53):
to build up girls of courage, confidence
and character who will make this world a better place.
Thank you for listening and thank you for your support.
Welcome to the Inspiring Women of Iowa podcast,
a special series
amplifying the stories of the Inspiring Women of Iowa Finalists.
Inspiring Women of Iowa is an annual event hosted by Girl
Scouts of Greater
Iowa with the goal of celebrating women of courage,
confidence and character who are making the world
(00:27):
a better place.
Why does that sound familiar?
Well, because it also happens
to be the mission of the Girl Scouts,
where they believe society is better because strong
women show girls that anything is possible.
This event was created by Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa in 2017
to celebrate women in our community
(00:48):
and share their stories, while raising support
for the Girl Scout programs
that build the next generation of inspiring women.
16 individuals are celebrated annually with the Courage,
Confidence, Character and Inspiring Advocate for Women Awards.
I'm your host, Sarah Noll Wilson.
I am a business owner, a champion of women, and I'm
(01:10):
also a proud Girl Scout alum.
So massive love to troop 238.
And I am honored to have the chance to speak with these amazing,
inspiring women and to share their stories with you.
Joining me today is Chloe Gayer.
She is the government affairs associate at Advocacy Cooperative,
(01:33):
and she has been nominated as a finalist for the Courage Award.
Thanks for coming and talking to me, Chloe.
Thanks for inviting me.
Yeah, I'm excited to.
I'm excited to hear more about you.
Before we get into
what's the impact you're trying to make on this world?
Just I always like to open it up with.
What else should we know about you?
That's a lot.
(01:54):
Yeah. It's very broad.
Just what
what would be most important for us to know about you?
I'm a senior at Drake University.
Okay.
Which is super cool.
I'm about to graduate in a few months, which is super awesome.
I'm studying American politics.
I've taken a lot of classes, like communication world
and that stuff, too.
I'm a very proud dog mom of a two year old Rottweiler
(02:15):
boxer mix.
She is my pride and joy.
Yeah. What's her name?
Her name is Nova George.
She was named after Drake's University's mascot.
Griff . Griff Two. His
home name is George.
So he and Nova are besties.
What?
What,
what was the pull towards American politics as your study?
(02:38):
Oh, okay.
So I am not someone who ever wanted to go into politics.
In fact, I hated it so much.
All throughout, like, high school and everything.
That was the last thing I wanted to do.
In fact, I wanted to do, like, animal husbandry,
which is like, working with animals,
bringing baby animals into the world.
It's the greatest thing ever.
Is why I have my cow mug.
(03:00):
Got it.
For people who are.
For people
who are listening and don't see this, Chloe has a mug that is a,
cow spots, and the feet are udders, and it's awesome.
It's pretty wonderful.
Shout out to the Girl Scout in high school who gave it to me.
I still use it to this day. Yeah.
So I was.
(03:21):
It was right after Parkland shooting happened,
and I saw a bunch of people
who were pretty much my age or a little bit older,
that were essentially standing up and saying, like,
hey, we may not be able to vote, we may not, be able,
be 21, be able to run for office or 25 or whatever the state.
But we still want to have a say in our government.
(03:41):
And I remember just, like, feeling so empowered by that.
And so I decided to get involved and some wonderful people
at Everytown for Gun Safety who I worked with for five years,
who have encouraged me and pushed me to do,
what was at that time political communications.
Yeah.
Which is all about the way that, like, words impact
(04:01):
politics and impact public opinion.
And it's a really cool and really, really nerdy study to do.
And if you ever watched West Wing,
it's like the speech writers like that’s what I wanted to do.
And then I came along and I was like, oh,
maybe communications is not the best thing
to be doing in this environment.
Not that it's not ever going to have like a crazy impact.
(04:23):
Communication is always going to be important.
But,
you know,
I was, job security
as a young person was really important to me.
So then I pushed and I discovered health care policy.
And I fell in love with it.
And I fell in love with the grassroots side of things.
Working with, like, everyday people.
People who have no idea about politics.
Just like I did when I was a younger kid.
(04:44):
And getting to work with them and making sure their voice
felt powered, empowered.
Just like I did when I was a little, little person.
Not.
That's not what I want to say, but a younger person.
Back in 2019.
Yeah. Yeah.
What? So. Okay.
So with where you are now.
With what you know, with the world we're in now.
(05:07):
As of recording this.
What what is the impact that you want to make?
Like, what is the what's the.
I don't want to say legacy because you're just building it.
But we we all are making impact all the time.
And so what's the impact that really drives you?
I think my biggest thing is I want politics to feel accessible.
Politics is this really big word.
(05:30):
And it sounds really, really scary, but it's not,
it's something that people are
every single person is a part of.
It's something that surrounds all of us.
It's not distant, far off.
It's not in D.C., it's not in Des Moines.
It's everywhere. It's on our kitchen tables.
It's,
you know,
when you get your coffee in the morning, whatever it is, it's.
That is all politics.
(05:51):
And the people we elect are elected to represent us.
They're not just, you know, they're just people.
And I think that's something that people are really scared of.
But we have
every single person has a right
in the First Amendment to petition
their government to have their voice be heard.
And that's the impact that I want to leave
is to have as many people as possible,
no matter what your views are.
(06:12):
What side of the spectrum
you live on feel that their voice matters because it does.
Yeah.
That, I'm not surprised that you're nominated
for the Courage Award,
because effectively, what I hear
you're trying to do is how do you help give people clarity
so that they can have more courage in using, using their voice
and being able to speak up.
When you think about when you think about again
(06:34):
where you're at in this work.
What does courage look like for you in this moment?
I think
courage is the ability to get up every morning.
No matter what happens on the news.
It's the ability to put what's happening
on national politics away
and focus on what affects you every day.
(06:55):
It's being able to,
you know, go buy eggs, even if the prices are getting higher
and still know that,
you know,
you have the courage to feed your family and to make it work.
And I think in my role, it's
having the courage to listen, and not talk.
That's something that's really,
really hard to do in politics is, you know,
(07:17):
rely on your ears more than your mouth.
And I think that's something that's really hard to do
because of how partisan everything is.
But I also remind everyone that it's really not that partisan.
90% of issues that go through the state capitol or in DC are
bipartisan issues.
They are things that support everyday
Iowans, everyday Americans.
(07:37):
And so having the courage to look past that is important.
Who inspires you?
Like, who is one person who inspires you?
Because I love
I am excited to ask this question
because you're obviously being nominated
as somebody who's an inspiring woman of Iowa.
So who inspires you?
The high schoolers.
(07:58):
The people that are younger than me.
Yeah.
Pretty much
every day
when I'm up at the Capitol,
there's some group of high schoolers up there.
And whether it's
that they got dragged there by their
AP government teacher, which happens a lot, or that they felt
so moved by a bill
or by an issue that they took time out of their school day.
(08:18):
They called their mom
or their dad or their adult to bring them to the Capitol.
That, to me, is so powerful to watch that other people,
other young people, feel this fire inside of them.
And they're willing to put themselves out there.
I,
that is so refreshing to hear.
(08:40):
And the reason is, I, I'm,
I largely am working with executives and organizations.
And for many of them, they get very confused
or, misunderstand the younger generation.
And so often I find I'm in a situation to go,
And and what gifts do they bring?
And I know that this, so I just I really appreciate that.
(09:02):
What,
you know, for people who are listening to this or watching this.
What would be one message that you would want them to hear
from how you're trying to show up, the impact
you're trying to make, what you see
as really important in the world we're in right now,
what would you want them to leave with?
There's two things.
(09:22):
First one is what I said earlier.
Your most powerful asset is your ears.
It's not your mouth. Words are really, really powerful.
Don't get me wrong.
The things that we say, the things we put on the social media,
they're really powerful.
But if you want to make a difference, you have to listen,
and you have to understand the other side.
And the second thing is that politics isn’t distant.
(09:45):
It's not a big scary thing.
Even if people have really cool titles in front of their name,
they're just people.
They're just neighbors. They still go grocery shopping.
You know, they still have all the same values and,
things that we everyone else does.
You know, politics is it's in the conversations
(10:05):
we have, it's in the decisions we make.
It's in the way that we show up in the world.
And you don't have to have a fancy
title or, have expert knowledge to show up.
Yeah. You just need to do it. Yeah.
So if you see something that you think
needs fixing, then you have to get up and do it.
And you, you know it.
(10:27):
When change happens is when we stop thinking of it
as someone else's job.
It's our job as citizens in a democracy to stand up.
Not to wait for
permission, but to step up and do the work.
I love that.
If Chloe, if people are listening to this
and they want to connect with you, either to you know, like,
send you a message to learn more about the journey you're on,
(10:49):
what would be the best way for people to connect with you?
Yeah.
All my social media has the same handle.
It's just Chloe underscore Gayer.
Other than that, my email,
the perks of being a lobbyist
is that my email and phone number are public information.
They are the third thing that comes up when you Google me.
So everyone is free to contact me.
Whether you are in Des
Moines, Iowa, or random county in Alaska.
(11:10):
I love it.
Chloe, thank you so much for sharing your time,
your talent, and I cannot I can't wait to see what you do.
I mean,
you like the impact you made, as always, has already been great,
and you're just getting started, so thank you.
Thank you.
(11:30):
The 2025 Inspiring Women of Iowa event will be held
on May 9th at the Meadows Events and Conference Center.
To purchase tickets
and get more information about supporting this event, please
visit Inspiring Women of Iowa dot com and all proceeds
from this fundraising event stay 100% local
to benefit Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa and their mission
(11:53):
to build up girls of courage, confidence
and character who will make this world a better place.
Thank you for listening and thank you for your support.
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