ABOUT ME
I'm a Kansas Citian living in Washington, D.C. I'm an Associate at Trident DMG, a strategic and risk advisory firm specializing in policy comms, reputation management, public affairs, & crisis response.
Before that, I went to school at the University of Missouri majoring in Journalism (Strategic Communication) and Constitutional Democracy (Law & Institutions), with minors in History and Political Science. The mixture is eclectic, but not random—each area of study and practice has prepared me to approach research, writing, editing, and strategy from a few angles rather than one.
At every point over the last four years, I've worked in roles that deal with law and strategic communication. I believe the two disciplines complement each other. They're two disciplines that many of my family members are skeptical of—there's a continuing history of lawyers and ad or PR folks leaning more into deception than well-meaning persuasion and argumentation. There's a sense that these professionals are around to fix things for a client with little regard for collateral damage.
But this slippery slope is precisely why I'm interested in these disciplines. The world has plenty of incredible lawyers and strategic communicators whose work is shaped by the desire to physically help people. This is work that often meets people at moments of extreme stress, which can result in the practitioner carrying that stress, too. To take this on and still steer the ship toward helping every person you can, taking care to remove harm from the equation, is the mission. I am determined to join the best practitioners in service of that mission.
For now, though, I'm new to the game. Please click here to read about my experience, and click here to see some of the research I've produced at Mizzou.
Beyond the classroom, I enjoy writing essays on legal analysis and music. I recently found an outlet for this on Substack—called The Idea is to Make Noise—which you can access here. Finally, click here to see some of my recently published work across a range of publications.
Don't hesitate to reach out to me at benhenschel@outlook.com or through the chat on this site. It'd be great to connect, one way or another.
Be well until then,
Ben
