Do Big Things (DBT) is a for-profit political consulting agency that provides creative strategy, digital ads, campaign content, digital technology, branding, website development, data, analytics, and research in digital content for left-of-center candidates and organizations. Clients of Do Big Things are reported to include the Open Society Foundations, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Everytown for Gun Safety, Friends of the Earth, and the NAACP. ¹

Do Big Things was created by 270 Strategies, a liberal digital messaging consultancy, and Fission Strategy, a liberal technology development firm. ²

Founding and History

Do Big Things was created as a partnership of the digital messaging consultancy 270 Strategies and liberal technology development firm Fission Strategy. DBT became an agency for the creation and execution of communication strategies for left-of center companies, foundations, and political campaigns. ³

DBT provides clients with creative strategy, digital ads, campaign content, digital technology, branding and website development, data analytics, and research in digital content. ⁴

DBT is based in Marin County, California, with offices in Chicago and Washington, D.C., though it operates with staff placed in multiple locations across the country. ⁵

The organization claims involvement in 45 political campaigns, multiple nonprofits, foundations and corporate clients including two presidential candidates and the U.S. Senate campaign of Amy McGrath (D-KY). DBT also works with foundations such as the George Soros-founded Open Society Foundations, the left-of-center Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and the NAACP. ⁶

Leadership

Cheryl Contee is CEO and founder of Do Big Things and Fission Strategy. She has an extended history in the technology arena including acting as strategic advisor and co-founder of Attentive.ly, now part of Blackbaud. She wrote Mechanical Bull a book  to share her experiences as a startup leader and to encourage other people from ethnic minority backgrounds to form technology start-ups. Contee was recently named as an affiliate of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. ⁷

She is co-founder of and lead blogger for Jack & Jill Politics (“A black bourgeoisie perspective on U.S. politics”); under the pseudonym Jill Tubman, she wrote an extensive array of blog posts designed to reshape the positions of the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus and raise the usage of social media by African Americans. ⁸

Jeremy Bird is co-founder and board chair of DBT, founded of left-of center organizing group Battleground Texas; co-founded iVote, an organization that seeks automatic voter registration and the election of Democratic Party secretaries of state; helped launch 270 Strategies; and was national field director for Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.

In his work on issues he helped the Scouts for Equality’s efforts to reverse the Boy Scouts of America’s bar on membership for gay young men. In the past he worked on the presidential campaigns of Howard Dean and John Kerry and served as field director for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW). ^{9 10} In 2019, Bird joined Lyft as vice president of public engagement. ¹¹

Tova Vance is Do Big Things’ chief operating officer (COO) of DBT and formerly worked with the left-of center Comer Family Foundation in their efforts in climate research, anti-bullying, and LGBT-interests advocacy. ¹²

Blessitt Shawn Bryant works as director of strategic projects and digital storytelling and has a long history of working with left-of-center groups and organizations. He has served in communications and strategy roles at the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Previously he served as an intern in the office of U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); he sits on the boards of the Chocolate City Burlesque and Cabaret Historical Society and the National LGBTQ Workers Center. ¹³

1. Childers, Vanessa, Milica Kostic, Menno Moffitt de Block, and Amy Yamamura. “43 World-Changing Women in Conscious Business – 2020.” Conscious Company, January 26, 2020. https://consciouscompanymedia.com/social-entrepreneurship/43-world-changing-women-in-conscious-business-2020/.
2. “Launched! 270 Fission Team Up to Create Do Big Things.” Do Big Things, September 7, 2018. https://dobigthings.today/launched-270-fission-team-create-big-things/.
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6. Childers, Vanessa, Milica Kostic, Menno Moffitt de Block, and Amy Yamamura. “43 World-Changing Women in Conscious Business – 2020.” Conscious Company, January 26, 2020. https://consciouscompanymedia.com/social-entrepreneurship/43-world-changing-women-in-conscious-business-2020/.
7. “Cheryl Contee.” Berkman Klein Center. Accessed February 6, 2020. https://cyber.harvard.edu/people/ccontee.
8. “Jack & Jill Politics.” About JJP – A Message From Co-Founders Cheryl Contee (Jill) and Baratunde Thurston (Jack) – Jack & Jill Politics. Accessed February 6, 2020. http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2013/04/about-jjp-a-message-from-co-founders-cheryl-contee-jill-and-baratunde-thurston-jack/.
9. “Jeremy Bird.” Facebook. Accessed February 6, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/jeremiah.bird.52.
10. “Do Big Things.” Do Big Things. Accessed February 6, 2020. https://dobigthings.today/#about.
11. Bird, Jeremy. “Why I’m Choosing Lyft.” Medium. Medium, November 19, 2019. https://medium.com/@jeremybird/why-im-choosing-lyft-1d09f470e721.
12. “Do Big Things.” Do Big Things. Accessed February 6, 2020. https://dobigthings.today/#about.
13. Blessitt, Shawn Bryant. Linkedin. Accessed February 6, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/blessittshawn/