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Mandana Dayani and her family immigrated to the U.S. from Iran as refugees when she was six years old. The move allowed her to "live the American Dream," Dayani tells Entrepreneur — and left her with a "profound sense of patriotism" for the country that "saved [her] life." Dayani says her gratitude is part of why she's done "some version of activism" for as long as she can remember.
Image Credit: Courtesy of I Am a Voter. Mandana Dayani.
Then, about six years ago, when she was at home on parental leave with her second daughter, Dayani was watching television, seeing families seeking refuge in the U.S. being separated at the border.
"When you think about what someone has to endure to leave their home and come to our country because our Statue of Liberty told them to, and in that moment after everything they've endured, to take someone's child physically away from them — it was the worst thing I'd ever seen our country do," Dayani says.
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Dayani, who has a background as a lawyer and talent agent with experience in brand-building and marketing, met with members of the Senate and Congress and asked what she could do with her expertise to make an impact. They told her that if she really wanted to enact long-term change, the country needed higher voter turnout.
What if we just own this identity as something that is so integral to ourselves?
"I think I had that Legally Blonde moment of, What, like it's hard?" Dayani says.
After all, marketers and brand-builders inspire people to take action all the time: Convincing them to watch a Marvel movie or buy Justin Bieber's latest album. Dayani thought the same principles would apply to galvanizing voters. So she quit her job, and with the help of 25 other women and The Creative Artists Agency (CAA) Foundation, she founded the nonpartisan organization I Am a Voter (IAAV) in 2018.
The organization's first meeting focused on its new client: voting. IAAV needed to figure out how to get people to wait in line in November and break free of "all of the fighting and shaming that happens in these spaces." Dayani read about the link between voter identity and the likelihood of habitually casting a ballot and resolved to lean into that concept: What if we just own this identity as something integral to ourselves and something that we'd find aspirational in others?
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Achieving that with younger generations means meeting them where they are and tapping into the brands, celebrities and sports teams they already know and trust, according to Dayani. IAAV has partnered with celebrities including Hailey Bieber, Kerry Washington, Steph Curry and brands such as the NBA, the NFL, Tory Burch, Urban Outfitters, Rhode and hundreds more.
"Here's your PSA when you're at the AMC theater," Dayani says. "We're on your Bumble app; we're on your jumbotron when you're watching a sports game. If you're getting a package from Shopbop, there's an insert. We went to so many of these brands and just asked them what they had available to contribute."
"We're not playing in this color spectrum. We're just here for everybody."
IAAV is also intentional about creating a brand identity that's appealing and not divisive. To that end, the organization's Instagram feed is entirely black and white.
"We're not red, we're not blue, we're not purple," Dayani explains. "We're not playing in this color spectrum. We're just here for everybody. And we really lean into facts, which I think also registers with people because we're not trying to convince them of one ideology or another or tell them how to think."
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Additionally, the organization strives to create fun, dynamic campaigns that drive its mission. For example, studies show that communication between people with pre-existing relationships can have a positive impact on voter turnout, so IAAV leaned into that with its "Register a Friend Day," trademarking "friends don't let friends skip elections" and enlisting the help of Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow of Friends.
"Applying some of those principles of marketing and brand building has been really effective."
"It just went so viral," Dayani recalls. "It felt like such a fun culture moment. And that was one of our highest days of voter registration. So I think applying some of those principles of marketing and brand-building with these amazing messengers has been really effective."
Today, IAAV has reached more than two million people on social media. The organization also partnered with HeadCount, a nonpartisan organization that works with musicians to promote participation in democracy. "Being able to leverage their expertise and experience within all of the framework of the things that IAAV is trying to do is amazing," Dayani says.
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At the end of September, IAAV announced its inaugural "Democracy Heroes" list in partnership with MSNBC's Morning Joe, Rockefeller Center and HeadCount. The list features 25 civic leaders working to ensure their communities and marginalized voters have their voices heard at the polls.
"It's been 30 years since we passed the National Voter Registration Act, and voters in almost half of our country are going to face new voting restrictions in this election," Dayani says. "So to be able to show people all across the country working to change that — I thought it was such a hopeful and beautiful way to go into this next month."
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