Lessons from a Life in Politics: Josh Paciorek’s First Gig
by Ryan Brown
There's a version of working in politics that exists only on television. The walk-and-talks, the crackling dialogue, the sense that every decision carries the weight of history. Most people who've actually done it will tell you the reality is something closer to Veep than The West Wing. Long hours, small teams, and a whole lot of figuring it out as you go.
Josh Paciorek figured it out — and then some.
Today, Josh serves as chief of staff for Dick DeVos, helping shape strategy and engagement around some of the most significant issues facing Michigan. It's a role that puts him at the center of policy, philanthropy, and public life in West Michigan. But when I sat down with Josh on My 1st Gig, we went back to where it all started: a six-person campaign team, a gubernatorial reelection race, and a young guy from Michigan State who had watched just enough political TV to think he knew what he was getting into.
He did not.
Learning to Be a Sponge
Josh's first professional gig was on Governor Rick Snyder's 2014 reelection campaign. He was brought on to run social media (a logical enough assignment for a 20-something in the digital age) but the team was so lean that his role quickly expanded. Research. Press. Volunteer coordination. If something needed doing, Josh did it.
That experience, he told me, turned out to be one of the most valuable things that could have happened to him early in his career. "You just have to know you are by far not the smartest person in the room," he said. "Use those opportunities to learn as much as you can." The small team gave him access he never expected — to the campaign manager, to senior staff, and even to the candidate himself. It forced him to absorb as much as he possibly could, as fast as he possibly could.
He also wasn't sleeping much. He was dreaming about TV ad buys.
A Path Paved by Good Mentors
What followed Snyder's reelection win was a career that reads like a very specific kind of Michigan success story. After the campaign, Josh transitioned into the governor's official communications office, a move made possible by a mentor named Mike Brownfield, who saw something in Josh and made a phone call. From there, it was onto managing communications through one of the most challenging moments of Snyder's tenure: the Flint water crisis. That pressure cooker forged deep relationships with the comms team, and those relationships opened the next door.
When Jared Agen became Vice President Pence's communications director, he called Josh three weeks later. The offer: manage all social media for the Vice President of the United States. Josh had just bought a house. He was planning a wedding. He was in the middle of a master's program at Michigan State.
He said yes.
The house was sold. The bags were packed. Washington waited.
What the White House Actually Looks Like
I asked Josh what might surprise people about working in the Vice President's office, and his answer was more honest than most people probably expect. "At the end of the day, it was another job," he told me. Same highs and lows. Same long hours. Same occasional team drama. He admitted that in the middle of the grind, he didn't always stop to appreciate what an extraordinary thing he was part of. Looking back, he does.
The through line connecting all of it, from Lansing to D.C. and eventually back to Grand Rapids, is people. Good mentors who made calls, sent texts, and took a chance on a kid who wanted to do communications. Josh was quick to name them — Mike Brownfield, Jared Agen, Congressman Fred Upton — and equally quick to name the lesson: work for good people. It makes everything else better.
Trust Your Gut
Before we wrapped, I asked Josh what advice he'd give his younger self standing in that first gig. He gave me two things.
The first: be willing to advocate for yourself. He told me about interning for the governor's office — not in communications, which is what he wanted, but in legislative affairs, because that was what was available. He took the opportunity anyway, but made sure to mention he really wanted communications. A week later, the press secretary called. That one conversation, Josh said, pretty much set off the rest of his career.
The second: trust your gut. He'd gotten plenty of advice over the years to turn down certain opportunities — including the move to work for Congressman Fred Upton, which many in his circle thought was a step down from the White House. He took it anyway. It turned out to be exactly right.
There were a lot of moments in Josh's career that could have gone differently. What kept them going in the right direction was a combination of showing up, staying curious, and knowing when to listen to that voice inside that says: "This is the move.”