Employee Spotlight: Mariah Roche-McConnell, Director

Tell us about what you did prior to joining Applecart: 

Prior to joining Applecart, I worked as a lobbyist for the Salt River Project — Arizona’s largest public power utility, advocating for energy legislation focused on achieving reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy for Arizonans. Earlier in my career, I worked for the U.S. State Department. 

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Why did you decide to join Applecart? 

I was excited by the opportunity to help modernize how campaigns and advocacy efforts were run. While traditional lobbying tactics often felt inefficient and limited in their impact, Applecart was using data science and behavioral insights to approach elections and advocacy campaigns in a smarter, more strategic way — identifying persuadable voters through modeling and mobilizing turnout through social pressure. As a growing startup, I saw a chance to roll up my sleeves, take on real responsibility, and grow alongside the company. Seven years later, we’ve grown to nearly 250 employees and we have helped more than 100 Fortune 500 companies and many major trade associations, nonprofits, governments, and other organizations across a wide range of industries reach the Decision Makers that matter most. 

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What is your favorite Applecart use-case? 

One of my favorite things about our product is how versatile and widely applicable it is. What started as a tool for advocacy and government relations has evolved into a solution supporting some of the country’s largest corporations with everything from strategic communications and investor relations to B2B sales. It’s been incredibly rewarding to watch that evolution. At its core, our product is invaluable in any scenario where you need to influence the decision-making of key stakeholders. Companies invest so much in creating strong content but often lack effective ways to ensure it’s seen by the right people. Applecart fills that gap.

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What should people outside of Applecart know about Applecart?  

It’s no longer impossible for you to reach your key stakeholders without wasting valuable budget advertising to audiences that have no impact on your organization. If you share with us the decision makers you are hoping to reach, we can identify and reach the individuals they consult on a daily basis (friends, family, close advisors, colleagues, etc.). In the words of Jerry Maguire, “Help me, help you!”

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Give us your best fun fact:

I have worked in virtually every office Applecart has had since its founding days. Our first office was so small we had to convert windowless closets into “conference rooms” — one of which I had to interview in before joining the team — that’s NYC real estate for ya!