Liz Jarvis-Shean grew up with an engrained love for public service—a devotion that was realized in her work for Candidate and President Barack Obama. When she eventually moved to the private sector, the motivation was less about what she was leaving behind, and more about what she was able to bring with her—her mission to effect change at scale through story.  

In her talk with Jesse, Liz describes the importance of her family and their examples of public service early in her life; the formative impact of the time she spent in post-apartheid South Africa; the way she brought together facts, circumstance, vision, and persuasion to connect with citizen audiences on President Obama's team and Candidate Obama's team; the important parallels that she sees between the emotional connections we seek from people and the excitement we want from products; how she made the decision to move into the private sector and into tech; and her reflections on driving impact at scale at Tesla, Airbnb, and DoorDash.

(6:17) How time spent at Berkeley and studying abroad in South Africa drew Liz to storytelling

(10:08) Life as an opposition researcher on an historic presidential campaign trail 

(14:26) Telling stories of ‘promises kept’ to make emotional connections with citizens 

(20:28) Finding an opportunity to affect massive change in the private sector at Tesla

(23:32) Blending the inspirational, the aspirational, and the practical to make a compelling narrative

(27:19) Airbnb’s impact at scale, in her own words

(30:04) How DoorDash achieves its mission to empower local economies by being customer-obsessed, not competitor-focused

(35:46) Advice for organizations: ‘Don’t just tell your story better. Have a better story to tell.’

Guest Bio

Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean is Vice President of Communications and Policy at DoorDash, leading the company’s policy, government relations, social impact, public affairs, and global communications initiatives. Liz sits on DoorDash’s Executive Management Team. Previously, she oversaw Airbnb's global public affairs and corporate communications teams, and has managed strategic communications at pioneering companies, including Tesla Motors, healthcare technology startup Nuna, and data science firm, Civis Analytics. 

Liz helped shape and drive research, rapid response and messaging for both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns and his White House, and held leadership positions at CNBC and political research consultancy IMS, Inc. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and valedictorian in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Helpful Links

Liz describes DoorDash’s partnerships with food banks

Learn more about the WeDash program

Liz on Newcomer’s Dead Cat podcast

Liz on LinkedIn and Twitter