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Nicole Derse is a Founding Principal of 50+1 Strategies whose 25 year-long career has focused on helping candidates, communities and causes win on issues that matter. Nicole led the 50+1 Strategies team since the company’s creation in 2012, serving as a strategic advisor, campaign manager, organizing guru, creative thinker and motivator to hundreds of clients.

Throughout her career, Nicole has brought effective and inspired community engagement to local, state and national campaigns. She was one of the first staffers for Obama for America in 2007 and the National Training Director for Organizing for America. She has worked on important issues from the grassroots to global levels, including reproductive rights, affordable housing, racial justice, economic opportunity, voting rights, and more. Nicole was awarded the American Association of Political Consultants’ 40 Under 40 Award and the Ballot Measure Campaign of the Year Award. Nicole holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Urban Studies from Macalester College and a Master’s Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English. She served as adjunct faculty at the University of San Francisco’s McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good and began her career as staff to the San Francisco Youth Commission.