{"id":4642,"date":"2016-07-18T13:08:59","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T17:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2016\/07\/22\/anna-sugg-named-one-of-the-most-influential-women-in-election-media\/"},"modified":"2022-11-06T20:47:30","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T01:47:30","slug":"anna-sugg-named-one-of-the-most-influential-women-in-election-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/anna-sugg-named-one-of-the-most-influential-women-in-election-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Anna Sugg Named One of Most Influential Women in Election Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anna Sugg \u201912 remembers when she first got interested in politics. \u201cWhen I was in fifth grade, our teacher gave us this assignment where she had a worksheet and we had to watch the Bush Gore debate. You had to watch thirty minutes to fill out the sheet. I watched the whole two hours.\u201d A decade and a half later, Sugg is watching the election cycle from a decidedly different vantage point than her parents\u2019 St. Louis living room floor. Named as the Republican National Committee\u2019s Director of Television in February 2015, Sugg is on the ground in Washington, DC in a hands-on, pivotal role. \u201cDuring debates, I handle the network credentialing process, which is a process, let me tell you. There\u00a0are so\u00a0many back end logistics that go into a debate that I had no idea about until I started doing it.\u201d This pronouncement is representative of the work ethic, adaptability, and talent that has landed Sugg not just her RNC job, but a spot on the Huffington Post\u2019s Most-Influential Women in 2016 Election Media<\/a> list\u2014all less than five years after graduating Furman.<\/p>\n

\"Anna

Anna Sugg (right) keeping on top of the news cycle for the RNC.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sugg credits much of her direction and success to being raised in a close-knit family. Her St. Louis upbringing was \u201cvery faith based and very family focused.\u201d While her parents, Reed and Janet, held Anna and her younger brother Matthew to high academic standards, Sugg feels much of her education happened at home as she watched her mom and dad enact the conservative values they talked about. \u201cThey just said if you are going to be for something, you need to be a part of the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Choosing to pursue politics was one thing, but it was never a part of Sugg\u2019s plan to study at Furman, her father\u2019s alma mater (class of \u201975). She envisioned attending college closer to home, but after being encouraged by her father to check out Furman, she \u201cwas hooked after the first visit. I loved it. I loved the atmosphere. I loved the political science program.\u201d Once at Furman, she rose to the challenge of her heavy academic course load as a political science and communication studies double major. \u201cYou know how they say you can have sleep, academics, or social life\u2014pick two? I found that very true at Furman. I just didn\u2019t sleep! I was like,\u00a0this is not sustainable. But, it was also a life lesson and work ethics training for how much I\u2019ve had to put into things outside of college.\u201d<\/p>\n

A conversation with Sugg is apt to make one feel like a slacker. Even at the tail end of a jam packed fourteen hour workday, she is warm, engaging, and considerate. She is articulate without coming across as artificial, a criticism easily leveled at many in her industry, and she projects a mature confidence that belies her twenty-six years. It\u2019s tempting to look at all of this\u2014the poise, the energetic assurance\u2014and, coupled with where she is now, assume that her trajectory to her current role was a linear one, but her journey from graduation to the political world was a lot less straightforward than she imagined. \u201cFor someone who knew what industry I wanted to be in from age fourteen, the whole path to getting there was actually nothing like what I had planned in my head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immediately after graduation, Sugg joined the Romney presidential campaign on the recommendation of connections forged during her days as an undergraduate intern in DC. \u201cThree weeks after I graduated, I got the job. Three weeks after that, I moved to Boston and I worked for six months at Romney headquarters. That was when I realized I really liked media relations, because I took whatever job they gave me.\u201d Sugg describes her time there as both \u201ccrazy experience\u201d and a \u201creally big crash course.\u201d Despite learning the ins and outs of her radio booking job on the fly, she and her team became so skilled, they eventually booked \u201cover two thousand interviews in two weeks\u201d during an especially crucial point in the campaign, something she calls a \u201ccrowning achievement.\u201d The job, however, was not for the faint of heart: \u201c[it] demanded your whole life. You\u2019re working from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed, seven days a week. And then, all of the sudden, it was over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imagine the horrifying stillness after the constant motion of a presidential campaign. After Romney backed out of the race, Sugg found herself abruptly unemployed. \u201cI moved from Boston to DC and tried to find a job, but after the 2012 election, the government didn\u2019t change at all. There really were not many jobs for someone who had six months of professional work experience and not much else.\u201d Sugg, not ready to give up on DC, got a job in retail to stay afloat while she continued her search. Just a couple of months after that, she landed an entry level position at Fox News as a guest greeter. \u201cIt sounds like you wave to people as they come in, but it\u2019s more intensive than that,\u201d she says. However, the salary of neither job was enough to quit the other, so Sugg began what would be a year long hustle of working both, almost every day. She would start her day at Fox at 6 a.m.\u00a0and leave at 2 p.m. Her retail shift started at 3 p.m.\u00a0and wrapped at 10 p.m. \u201cI did that while I worked my way up in the booking department to the point where I was assigned my own segments and producing some of my own stuff. I was making really great connections. I was working sixteen hour days and was on my feet all the time. I spent Thanksgiving and New Year\u2019s Eve at my desk twice. I worked most every weekend for two years. But,\u201d she says, \u201cyou do what you need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sugg asserts that while in college, she never had the existential quandary of purpose that seems to be a requisite part of millennial adolescence. \u201cI never had a crisis moment, like what am I doing with my life?\u201d However, when asked if she ever had a moment of doubt during this particular post-Romney, pre-RNC chapter of her career, when opportunities were scarce and continuing struggle certain, Sugg recalls a conversation with her mother. \u201cI asked: \u2018Am I doing the right thing?\u2019 And she said, \u2018don\u2019t you dare start questioning yourself now!\u2019\u201d One of her father\u2019s favorite quotes also came to her mind whenever she felt uncertainty: \u201cMy dad always used to say, and it would drive me crazy\u2014 \u2018when the going gets tough, the tough get going.\u2019 And so, there is no \u2018maybe this is wrong, maybe I should find something else, maybe I should give up.\u2019 That\u2019s never an acceptable answer as a Sugg.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a year working both jobs, Sugg was able to quit the retail position to focus entirely on Fox, and also her next move. Her reputation as a workhorse would come in handy when the Director of Television position became available at RNC. \u201cAs a guest greeter at Fox, I met everyone on TV because I was the one who handled the guests. So a lot of the regulars, I would talk to for like twenty minutes a week for two years. You get to know people pretty well, and the fact that I was working those two jobs gave me a credibility I could not have gotten any other way. How people know your reputation or recommend you is huge, and that\u2019s actually how I got my RNC job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shifting from Fox News to RNC was bittersweet, but Sugg was exhilarated by the opportunity to be back in the hustle and bustle of the election cycle again. \u201cI loved my job at Fox, but I was itching to get back on the campaign trail. This is perfect, because I get to be in the middle of the campaign cycle for its entirety, no matter which candidate wins.\u201d Sugg\u2019s days as the RNC\u2019s Director of Television never look exactly the same, but she tends to start her day early, usually squeezing in a workout before diving into the morning shows. \u201cMy job is to stay on top of the news cycle, to know which hosts are saying what, how things are going, who the guests are. I try to be in the office by 7:30 a.m. I have a morning email I send reporters, anchors, everybody on my TV press list, because I know what it\u2019s like to be a segment producer. I know what they might need to cover politics that day.\u201d Other duties include correcting the record, managing interview requests, and generally staying on top of being many people\u2019s point of contact for the entire RNC.<\/p>\n

What Sugg loves about her job is also what makes it challenging. \u201cI know that what I\u2019m doing makes a difference, as cheesy as that sounds. I know what I do now makes a difference on a national scale.\u201d However, \u201cwhen it comes to impact on a national scale, you realize that mistakes can be big mistakes, so you just can\u2019t make them.\u201d While it took some time to get used to the pressure, Sugg revels in feeling totally suited to her job. \u201cMy personality has really helped. I am extremely outgoing. I think I am one hundred percent extroverted. I have an uncanny ability to remember people\u2019s names.\u201d And while she does not have much time for \u201cwork life balance\u201d with her fourteen hour days, she prioritizes friends in her rare free time and is something of a \u201ccoffee addict,\u201d with at least four regular coffee shop haunts. She cops to a love for dancing of all kinds from salsa to swing, and pencils in weekend getaways to the beach or a winery whenever possible.<\/p>\n

Another characteristic that sets Sugg apart is something that can be read between the lines of what she says. She is tenacious, and willing to adjust if things do not go according to plan. This adaptability has served her well so far, and will come in handy this November. \u201cSomething that I\u2019ve realized in this whole process, looking back from where I am now, is that it has not gone according to plan. With this job, I am totally focused on getting through November, knowing that with the election, there is a finish line.\u201d Sugg\u2019s ultimate dream would be to work for a lawmaker on Capitol Hill, and while that\u2019s something she aspires to, \u201cI\u2019m just getting to November and seeing where the next place takes me.\u201d However, it seems reasonable to imagine Anna Sugg on the Hill, because giving up is never an answer if you are a Sugg.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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