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If you feel like many politicians don’t understand where you came from at this moment of political change… well, Emilia Roland says that there may be something to do with the people who are hired to work for them.
Rowland is involved in communications for Sen. John Fetterman, U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, and now Mayor Ed Gainey’s reelection campaign. He said people who apply for jobs with her tend to have a specific background. And in politics, Roland said there is an implicit assumption that these are the people they employ.
“You always want to hire people with the most experience,” she said — “the one who worked in most campaigns, the most council offices on the hill.”
But that didn’t stop Rowland from taking his chances at Kyla Gill two years ago. He didn’t even have a working laptop at the time.
Rowland worked as a communications specialist for Fetterman’s 2022 Senate campaign. I’ve noticed that the “Kyla by Burgh” Twitter account appears to be attracting as much attention as the campaign’s own account.
“It was a very message, it was so well expressed that it really made me feel something,” she said.
One tweet read: “I want this same guy who funded the government a few years ago to believe that John Fetterman is the criminal for it.”
At one point, Gill discovered information about Fetterman’s then photographer, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and his research at Columbia University. Research involving experiments on dogs. According to Roland, no media outlets have announced anything about this yet.
“Oz was investigated and fined for cruelly experimenting with the puppy and leaving him dead in a plastic bag,” writes Gill.
At the time, Gill ran a floor recovery business. While waiting for the polyurethane coat to dry out, or after removing the dust from the day’s worth of sanding, she lay on the couch and went to work. Gill had become one of Fetterman’s best attacking dogs, Roland said.
Because tweets may include the original research, Roland initially wondered whether the account was being run by experts from the campaign’s research team. The two met not until the Fetterman Campaign victory party. And when Roland was subsequently hired to lead Lee’s Congressional Communications Office, she thought of Gill.
Roland was able to see Gill’s work ethic, natural political instincts and passions. However, she said she was worried about how to persuade her new boss. She said Gill didn’t even know what the cover letter was. So Roland gave her a very challenging written exam. This required Gill to come up with an entire communication plan for Lee’s office, including sample tweets, memes and drafting videos.
“It was better than what I’ve seen (job) candidates submit,” Roland said.
Roland was particularly impressed by the two videos that Gill made. The attack video and a “hype video” highlighting Lee being the first black woman to serve Pennsylvania in Congress.
“She may not have had any technical skills or polishes (although she didn’t have them at first), but that really doesn’t matter,” Roland said. “What you need is content that you want to participate in someone else’s cause.”
Lee said she didn’t know the details of Gill’s personal story when she hired her. She knew she had a story because of how powerfully communicated Gill had.
“I didn’t want to have an office full of people who had the same perspective,” Lee said.
Gill, who said she grew up in a trailer park, came out as a lesbian at the age of 13. Not everyone she wanted was unconditionally accepted.
“I’ve always been hardworking,” she said. “I think I grew up in a traditionally driven space.
For over a decade, Gill took part in building trades, constructing bridges and often carried about 200 pounds of wood. However, she said that she quit the job more than a decade later to start her own flooring business because some of the men she worked with tried to trust her ruthless work ethic.
When Lee offered Gill the job, Gill said she was worried that she would give up her business due to the starting level communications staff salary.
But she decided: “I would rather love my job. I feel like I’m fighting for everything I want to do throughout my life.”
On Gil’s first day at Lee’s work, she said she had to ask what Google Doc was. Less than two years later, however, she became Senior Press Secretary for Lee, drafting a speech, writing a press release, and helping shape Lee’s voice.
Gill’s colleagues say her background helps her cut through political jargon and helps to create relevant messages. Roland said there was that lesson.
“Kyla is incredibly special, but I think there are others like her who are given the opportunity to contribute as much as she made,” Roland said.
The main things that Gill posts are her cat, in addition to politics. She has nine dogs and three dogs.
“Here in the office, that’s a big joke. Did Kyla have another cat?” Gill said.
During this past holiday season, someone sent her a picture of a wild cat named Rico, who was destined to be a snow farm somewhere.
“I realized how scary his little eyes were,” she said. “And just thought, ‘There’s no way for a little baby to go to the farm.’ ”
It’s an approach that encourages Gill to be active in politics.
“I love sticking for others,” she said. “And I saw a lot of people who needed someone to fight for them, whether they could do it or not. I wanted to fight back against the hatred of that person.”
