Natalie Parrish, Product Marketing Manager at The Hoover Institution, Stanford University[/caption] My name is Natalie Parrish and I’m a product marketing manager at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. My work specializes in extending the reach of the world-renowned scholars at the Hoover Institution to the broader public rather than just to academia. I have a passion for data analytics. There’s something exciting about being able to pull apart millions of pieces of data and turn those seemingly random numbers into a story that helps us improve performance. I use Flipboard because it’s an elegant and convenient way to consume the news each day in my favorite easily digestible form: an app. The first few sites I read in the morning are Hoover.org, Foreign Policy, CNN, TechCrunch. The purpose of my work is to develop and execute promotional strategies for Hoover’s vast array of content using digital marketing analytics. After implementing those strategies, I go back to the data to assess how they’re doing. Our fellows are producing amazing work; it’s my goal to increase the reach of the Hoover Institution’s products and get them in the hands of our readers using a variety of platforms. What makes my work different: The Hoover Institution is the oldest public policy think tank in the United States and has the second-largest archives (after the Library of Congress). It’s also the home to many world-renowned fellows, including George Schultz, Thomas Sowell and Condoleezza Rice. Past fellows have included eminent scholars Milton Friedman, Gary Becker and Fouad Ajami. We have a rich scholarly tradition, but our scholars don’t just write for academic journals, they also write well-researched articles and opinion pieces for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and others. So my job, rather than marketing some random business product, is marketing knowledge and research. In an era of clickbait and sensationalist media, we stand out with carefully researched and analyzed pieces on current affairs and lessons from history, making it possible for people to learn the facts about the world today. Our motto is “ideas defining a free society”; we all work hard every day to do just that. The best article I read all week was our latest issue of our Military History journal, Strategika, about the legacy of the Obama doctrine and the potential long-term consequences of his “lead from behind” strategy in foreign policy. It will be interesting to see if our next president follows the same foreign policy strategy or chooses to follow a new one. My favorite topic on Flipboard is foreign policy. Someone I admire from a different discipline is Thomas Sowell. Not only is he a brilliant economist, but he’s able to break down complex economic ideas into easily consumable facts, making him an excellent educator as well. I appreciate his view of the world that is backed up with facts and statistics based on his study of economics.   My “media diet” consists of news apps on my smartphone; I have one for almost every news outlet. I appreciate their push notifications with live breaking news that gives me a snapshot when I don’t have time to dive into a full article. I also like seeing how each news site presents its content, all in a different manner. The variety gives me a better picture of the full scope behind each story. A unique productivity tip of mine is: I like to get to work 15-20 minutes before everyone else. There’s something about the peace and quiet of the empty office that helps me get into a focused mindset to start my day productively. Issues that need more attention: local elections and politics. People get caught up in the excitement of presidential elections, but local and state elections have significantly more impact on the policies that shape our daily lives.    If I could offer one piece of advice to my younger self, it would be don’t stress out too much about the future, it all works out in the end!    Don’t forget to follow The Hoover Institution on Flipboard. ~MiaQ wants to make sure you read 10 for Today, too