By Jessica Whitney ’16 | Staff Writer

From the halls of South to the streets of our nation’s capitol: alumni Brianne Nadeau ’98 was elected as democratic Ward 1 Councilmember on April 1.

Nadeau held the position of vice chairperson of the Ward 1 Democrats in 2012, after which she decided to campaign for councilmember. She credits her ability  to lead to the lessons she learned at Grosse Pointe South.

In her sophomore year at South, Nadeau took Honors Journalism, she said. By her Junior year she was deputy school editor for the Tower, and her Senior year (1997-98) Nadeau was editor in chief.

Nadeau was extremely on top of things, English teacher Harry Campion said. She was an incredibly able editor for the Tower and was very diligent.

 “The fact that I had an academically challenging high school experience coupled with seemingly endless extracurricular activities prepared me for a world in which you have to be smart, engaging and able to juggle many tasks at once in order to excel,” said Nadeau.

Although there were several influential teachers during her time at South, Nadeau said her Honors journalism teacher and Tower adviser Jeff Nardone had the biggest impact on her. Nadeau always had a natural tendency to lead, but Nardone was the mentor that helped cultivate it.

“[She was] a really great choice,” said Campion. “Nardone said fantastic things about her all the time. She was in AP Lit, and I knew her as one of the finest English students in the school.”

Nadeau attributed much of her success to Nardone, she said.

“Looking back on it now, the idea that at 17 I was managing a staff of 40 and working with them to churn out a weekly newspaper while also balancing academics and a social life is truly astounding,” said Nadeau. “I cannot think of a single other experience in high school that better prepared me for life. None of that would have been true without Jeff Nardone.”

To this day, Nadeau still uses the skills and mantra that he taught her, she said.

“I think about him all the time- when something good happens, when something bad happens, and sometimes just because,” said Nadeau. “I so wished he had been there to celebrate with me on election night, and by my side when there was the inevitable mudslinging. I would have liked to have seen his face during my television debate. He would have had some choice words for my opponent.”

With Nardone’s guidance still in her heart, Nadeau graduated from South in 1998 and went on to study political science at Boston College from 1998 to 2002, she said. She minored in a combination of philosophy, theology, and public policy called “Faith, Peace and Justice”. She then proceeded to get her masters of public policy at American University from 2004 to 2006 with a concentration in Women and Leadership, which inspired her to permanently move to Washington, DC.

“I always saw it as the center of change, and even as a kid I was drawn to the idea that you could help people in the long term if you committed to getting at the root cause of their issues,” said Nadeau.  “For me that’s public policy, public service.”

Friends since elementary school, English teacher Dennis Pascoe remembers Brianne as always being an outspoken hardworker and being nice to everyone.

“She was always very active in something,” said Pascoe. “If she thought that something should be changed or something wasn’t right she would speak out and say those things.”

Nadeau always wanted to run for office, and did so for the first time in 2006, she said. She served for four years as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner of Meridian Hill in Washington, DC.

Currently, Nadeau works at a small public relations firm, Rabinowitz Communications. The firm does media outreach for progressive non-profit organizations.

“I worked really hard for more than three years to raise money, go out and talk to voters and demonstrate that I would serve them well in government,” said Nadeau.  “I was challenging four-term incumbent Jim Graham, who has had many opponents in the past, but none who ran the type of campaign I did. Voters were telling me they were ready for change, ready for someone to present a viable challenge to Graham.”

On April 1st, Nadeau won the Democratic Primary for the Ward 1 DC Council seat. She beat Graham by 18 points, surprising a lot of people, she said, including herself.

“With an electorate that is so heavily weighted toward the Democratic Primary this makes me the presumptive Council Member in the minds of most people,” said Nadeau. “Of course, my mind is focused on the general election in November, and I don’t take that for granted. If all goes well, I’ll take the position in January.”

To spread her message to a wider audience, Nadeau used both Facebook and Twitter in the campaign, Nadeau said. This was not as effective as targeted, face-to-face contact, for it was difficult to organize people through social media and to get them to take action.

Since Nadeau has done most of her political work on a volunteer basis, the DC Council gig will be her full-time first paid elected position, she said. She had worked in the nonprofit world with student activists, on Capitol Hill as a staffer, and now at a PR firm.

Throughout her career, Nadeau has had opportunities to travel the world and learn about other cultures and societies, Nadeau said.

“I’ve cultivated life-long friendships with people from all walks of life and all ages, and those experiences have broadened my perspectives,” said Nadeau. “I like to think the best things about me haven’t changed: my work ethic, my natural leadership ability, my collaborative nature. “

If she could give advice to any student at South, it would be to pick something they love doing and throw their self into it, she said. Even if it does not pay the bills, figure out how some variation of that might.

“You’ve got to pay the bills, but each job I’ve had gave me a little more training for this new opportunity, which is my dream job, for now,” said Nadeau.

To visit Nadeau’s official website, click here.