Joan\u00e9 McAfee just celebrated her 27th birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And while there are plenty of 27-year-olds populating the workforce, there are very few who can say they earn their pay serving as a trusted policy advisor to their state\u2019s governor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McAfee can say just that, advising Minnesota\u2019s Gov. Mark Dayton and Lt. Gov. Tina Smith on policy concerning criminal justice, public safety, human rights and more. Not too shabby for a person who four years ago had absolutely zero plans of serving in the public arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I graduated (college) I had a very narrow focus. I was going to be working for a big PR agency or on somebody\u2019s television program,\u201d said McAfee, who graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in public relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McAfee said a job as a legislative assistant with Sen. Bobby Joe Champion (59, DFL) changed her career direction \u2026 and her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWorking with Sen. Champion and seeing how I could be a part of change for Minnesota gave me a new perspective. Sen. Champion valued my voice and I give a lot of credit to him for investing in me,\u201d said McAfee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That investment paid off. In January when the governor was seeking voices from underrepresented communities, McAfee\u2019s name was presented to him \u2026 not by Champion, but by Sen. Jeff Hayden (42, DFL), who had also recognized the work she was doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen my name was presented, the lieutenant governor was familiar with me and she felt I\u2019d be a really good choice as policy advisor,\u201d said McAfee, who said her age is seldom \u2013 if ever \u2013 a hindrance in her role. \u201cI offer a fresh voice and a different perspective and a different demographic. That\u2019s what the governor wants and what is welcomed and respected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indeed, when it comes to state government, McAfee is a different voice. During her three years as staffer to Champion, McAfee was the only Black female staffer in either the state House or Senate. That opened her eyes to a stark reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have policy makers talking about us (people of color) and the issues affecting us, but we aren\u2019t there to be a part of the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At just 27-years-old, McAfee is now an integral part of the conversation. So when Dayton was pondering the issue of police body cameras, one of the voices heard in the room was that of McAfee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI offered the community perspective. Gov. Dayton was really passionate (about the issue) already and he was passionate about listening to the community,\u201d said McAfee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keeping close ties to the community is important to McAfee, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI spend a lot of times with my friends who are not in politics, so I\u2019m not always talking politics and policy, that way I don\u2019t get sucked into this (state capitol) bubble,\u201d said McAfee. \u201cI have to have that community touch \u2026 that connection. As soon as I lose that someone else might as well come in and do the work, so I make sure to stay connected to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joan\u00e9 McAfee just celebrated her 27th birthday. And while there are plenty of 27-year-olds populating the workforce, there are very few who can say they earn their pay serving as a trusted policy advisor to their state\u2019s governor. McAfee can say just that, advising Minnesota\u2019s Gov. Mark Dayton and Lt. Gov. Tina Smith on policy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2380,2728,2729],"class_list":["post-4354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-gov-mark-dayton","tag-joane-mcafee","tag-lt-gov-tina-smith","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Insight-News-Website-Images-21.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4356,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4354\/revisions\/4356"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}