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The Flip Side is on a mission to bridge the gap between liberals and conservatives.
Every day, our cross-partisan team combs through dozens of sources – left, right, and center. We focus on one topic and select the most thoughtful and well-articulated points to highlight in a 5-minute digest. While our newsletter is already making a tangible difference in people’s lives – helping them understand and connect with family, friends, or coworkers with whom they disagree – we always knew it was just the first step.
We’ve spent the past two years researching and speaking with engineers, designers, academics, and community moderators about how best to design an online community where meaningful discussions can take place. Our newly launched Forum uses human-centered design and a proprietary ranking algorithm to reward thoughtfulness and bipartisanship, rather than trolling or clickbait. Pioneering a new approach to news and user-generated content, we are not ‘just’ another platform, but rather curators of content and conversations.
A less divided future begins with all of us getting on the same page – literally.
Annafi Wahed, CFA, has a broad array of experience spanning the federal government, non-profit, political, and private sectors. In 2016, she left her role as a Senior Consultant at Ernst & Young to join the Democratic campaign. Walking door to door, she saw firsthand how next-door neighbors could be completely isolated from one another by the media they consume. Annafi launched The Flip Side as a passion project in 2017, and has since spearheaded each new stage of the venture. Annafi’s op-eds have been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Hill, and USA Today. Her public appearances include everything from Fox & Friends and The Young Turks to being a keynote speaker at the Reagan Foundation.
Jihan Varisco has degrees in Political Science and Public Policy from the University of Chicago, and is interested in applying insights from behavioral economics and game theory to improve policy. He studied with several Nobel Prize winners, including the behavioral economist Richard Thaler. He is particularly interested in attempts to model human political attitudes and voting decisions by combining insights from psychology with data-driven AI models.
Matt Harris has over 15 years of software engineering and product leadership experience. He has held leadership positions at Twitter, Uber, and Color Health, taking startups through IPOs and scaling them from tens to thousands of employees. Matt co-invented four patents, and oversaw the autonomy product development of self-driving vehicles and their associated machine teaching and validation infrastructure.
Joe Vigliotti is a writer who is serving his second term as a City Councilman for Taneytown, Maryland. He is a graduate of Mount Saint Mary's University where he studied history, political science, and philosophy. A Catholic and conservative Republican, Joe is disheartened with the state of American political debate, and so is thrilled to be a part of this crucial effort to improve our mutual understanding.
Kelly Hawkes is a teacher and a Doctoral Candidate in Education, researching Information and Media Literacy. She also holds degrees in Social Studies Education and Political Science. She was formerly a researcher of issues related to diversity, equity, and social justice, and worked for United States Senator Cory Booker. These experiences make Kelly uniquely qualified to understand the complex intersections of politics, education, and the media.
Roberto Rodriguez is an active duty Marine specializing in communications intelligence, currently serving as the senior advisor to the Director of Information Operations Force Development for the Marine Corps. He believes that a free and robust press is vital to the survival of a thriving democracy. A Penn State junior, majoring in Digital Journalism and Media, Roberto was born and raised in Cidra, Puerto Rico, and lives in Northern Virginia.
Spenser Dopp studied journalism at Ohio University with a specialization in classics and world religions. He believes people across the political spectrum and all walks of life generally share similar values and goals but have different ways of expressing them, which is why open communication is so important. Spenser is happy to be working with The Flip Side to help himself and others learn, think, and communicate in an honest and balanced way.
Allison Lee Pillinger Choi is a full-time mom to two preschoolers and writes on right-of-center politics/policy. She is the author of Bleeding Heart Conservatives: Why It's Good To Be Right and a Contributing Writer at the Manhattan Institute's City Journal. Her work has also been published by outlets including the San Francisco Chronicle, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and Bold Media.
Alli attended Harvard where she studied Economics, competed on the Varsity Tennis team, and worked at The Harvard Crimson. After graduating she moved to New York City, where she worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs and then at Equinox.
Alli is affiliated with the Advisory Committee of the Manhattan Institute's Young Leaders Circle, the New York Hospital Weill Cornell Council, and the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan. Her latest initiatives are dedicated to breaking down political polarization through bipartisan organizations such as The Flip Side and Experiment In Dialogue. Alli is originally from South Florida.
Angela Cho is the founder of Function Labs, a growth marketing agency and creative collaborative in New York City.
Function Labs helps mission-focused businesses connect deeper with their market and convert them to take action. Since it was founded in 2016, the team has helped organizations from Fortune 500 companies to startups battle human trafficking, heal the world with hemp, bridge the gap between liberals and conservatives, make governments more efficient, and empower women to start online businesses.
Prior to Function Labs, Angela worked in public relations and marketing in the defense, government, and SaaS sectors. She graduated with a B.S. in journalism and entrepreneurship from Syracuse University.
Today she runs Function Labs in New York City and is an advisor for The Flip Side. She lives in New Jersey with her fiancé, umma, dog, and cat.
