BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Erick Sanchez, traveling press secretary for Andrew Yang and principal at Quixotic
How/where are you celebrating your birthday and with whom? “My older brother Nick who lives in Austin and has a cult-like following there due to his affinity for White Claw, surprised me with passes for Austin City Limits — this will be my first and last music festival outside of Jazz Fest in my new hometown of New Orleans. I’m a huge Childish Gambino and Lizzo fan, so I’ll definitely dance like everyone’s watching which means I'll likely put my hands in my pockets and lightly bop my head.
Beyond that, a small group of family and friends will get together later in the week in New Orleans to go to a hibachi restaurant. I love hibachi restaurants because they're the perfect fusion of dining and entertainment. The onion volcano is the eighth wonder of the world, and I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t participate in the shrimp toss unless they have a shellfish allergy.”
How did you get your start in your career? “I picked up Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) from the Detroit Metro Airport that I was tasked to do as a press intern on a special election in northwest Ohio — I had to look up his Wikipedia page to figure out what he looked like. Turns out he looked like most dudes leaving the Detroit Metro Airport, so I just honked a bunch until he found me. We had a great conversation and a beer, and then I ended up on the Hill as a social media aide for him at the starting salary of $24,000 a year. I spent a lot of time at lunch-and-learns completely irrelevant to my position to save a few bucks. I also briefly lived in a room inside a dilapidating row house in Eastern Market for $565 a month but left after four weeks after falling extremely ill from the black mold in said room.”
What’s an interesting book/article you’re reading now or you’ve recently finished? And why? “My friend Jason Rezaian wrote an incredible book called ‘Prisoner,’ documenting his time spent in an Iranian prison [wrongfully accused of espionage] for 544 days. Jason and I became friends after his release and bonded as fellow first-generation Iranian-Americans and he offered me the opportunity to review his book before he sent his final draft to HarperCollins, one of the greatest honors of my life. We also both had crowdfunding projects — mine resulted in a living room concert with Kenny Loggins and his landed him in Evin Prison in Tehran. Jason’s outcome is vividly written in a book I definitely recommend reading. He’s an incredible storyteller and manages to make light of a pretty terrible situation.”
What’s a trend going on in the U.S. or abroad that doesn’t get enough attention? “Domestic airlines have begun either considering or implementing measures to prevent passengers from reclining in their seats, which I think is incredible. I won't sugarcoat it — there's a special place in hell for people who recline their seat in coach (hard stop). The two inches you get from reclining doesn’t mimic the experience of being in your bedroom or living room — it’s just a reminder that you’re a really bad person that probably uses a tip calculator. In the meantime, while we wait for full implementation, be kind and don’t recline.”
How’s the Trump presidency going? “When I was in the second grade, my friends one day challenged me to see how many cartons of chocolate milk I could drink during a lunch period. The total was 13 cartons. I got an incredible stomach ache and the school nurse sent me home. That’s the best anecdote I can think of in regards to how I feel the Trump presidency is going.”
What’s a fun fact that people in Washington might not know about you? “One day, last year, I got really bored so I decided to scratch something off my bucket list and wrote and recorded an R&B song dedicated to sandwiches called ‘Lettuce, Tomatoes & Roses’ under the stage name Caramel. It’s available on Spotify thanks to the guidance of Tom Manatos, which I’m sure he now regrets offering. I look forward to thanking POLITICO when I win a Grammy next year.”