This article is an excerpt from Keith Maginn’s (Extra)Ordinary: More Inspirational Stories of Everyday People, available for pre-order now on Amazon and at KiCamProjects.com.
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Phillip A. Singleton never thought he’d be involved with politics. He wanted to be a cook, learning by his grandmother’s side as a child, and his dream was to open a restaurant in Philadelphia.
A first-generation American of Jamaican descent, Phillip was raised in South Florida with a younger sibling. “We weren’t poor,” he says. “We were between middle class and poor.”
When Phillip was thirteen, his mom told him he needed to help support his family. He took a job bagging groceries, an experience that helped him “know what it’s like to earn money.” His strong work ethic led him to jobs at Pizza Hut, a Marriott hotel, and Dillard’s department store. He also ran his high school’s newspaper.
Phillip earned a journalism scholarship to Florida A&M University in 2003. In addition to working the graveyard shift at Target, he also worked at a DoubleTree hotel. Most weekdays he went to school from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then went to work at the hotel from 3-11 p.m.
Despite his drive, Phillip found himself unemployed two weeks before his semester finals in November 2008 when the DoubleTree downsized. In need of money, Phillip left school. For a period of time, he was homeless, living out of his car or sleeping on friends’ floors.
His lifelong love for hip hop music inspired Phillip during this tough time, specifically “Street Lights” by Kanye West. “I don’t know why that song resonated with my soul, but my intuition told me that despite the downfall, I was on the verge of something that would change my life forever,” Phillip explains.
His break came in the form of a newly elected official whose many stays at the DoubleTree had let him witness Phillip’s hard work first-hand. Phillip asked if the official needed a staff member, and though the man already had a candidate in mind, he gave Phillip a chance. Phillip says, “I stepped out on faith and took an unpaid internship in the Florida House of Representatives working for Representative Dwayne Taylor and the Democratic Minority office.”
Phillip continues:
I briefly went back to college in 2009 and [am] still in the process of completing my degree…I decided to start my career in politics because I was getting real-life experience and there were not a lot of other opportunities out there at the time. Unfortunately, working around the clock in Florida’s political process—from running campaigns to passing laws and working with elected officials—delayed my progress in completing my degree, but it’s something I have focused on completing since.
This drastic move changed the course of Phillip’s life in a profound way. He quickly found he had a passion for politics, well-served by his “Rain Man-like memory.” He felt called to help underrepresented groups, such as minorities, in government issues. “Little did I know that my years of customer service experience would put me in a position to get a full grasp of the policies and politics that impact the everyday people I serve,” Phillip says.
The internship helped Phillip secure a job as a research assistant at Pittman Law Group. “I worked there for five years, working my way up from that role into the Legislative Director’s position where I handled lobbying, political campaigns, and advocacy work for clientele throughout the entire state,” he says.
By 2010, at the age of twenty-four, Phillip had become the youngest African-American lobbyist in Florida’s history. He helped pass legislation to expand Major League Soccer in Florida, helped further the Break Pay Scholarship for post-9/11 G.I. Bill student veterans, and has secured millions of dollars in state funding for various economic-development projects. Phillip’s influence in the Florida Legislature got him recognized as “an Emerging Leader in Politics” in 2011 by the Florida Conference of Black State Legislators. 850 Business Magazine also tabbed Phillip “Top 40 under 40,” and the Network of Young Professionals named him one of its “Top 20 under-40 Emerging Leaders.”
In September 2014, Phillip founded his own full-service governmental affairs and multicultural outreach firm, Singleton Consulting. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies, the Florida Legislature, collegiate sports teams, and the banking industry.
Singleton Consulting lobbies important issues to elected officials, gives political and legislative guidance to those unsure of where to start, and helps groups and individuals develop brands and implement campaigns. His website says: “We fall in love with your problems…then deliver your solution.”
“We understand the policies, the process of how a bill becomes law, and how to influence our client’s interest before it’s too late,” Phillip says. “We have built relationships on both sides of the aisle and can put you in front of the decision-makers you need to reach.”
Phillip, now thirty-one years old, has branded himself with a clever moniker: the Hip Hop Lobbyist.
Phillip created this persona because of his love of the musical genre and as a way to relate to underrepresented people and groups. Because politics involves a lot of egos and emotion, Phillip says he uses music to keep him centered and grounded.
His company helps minority organizations that are not getting proper representation. “Our clients benefit from having a trusted ally working behind closed doors who can strategically advance or derail issues that could impact their future,” Phillip says.
A typical day for Phillip ends at 1 a.m. He wakes up by 5 or 6 a.m. to check e-mail, watch the news, and then meet with elected officials. Phillip says Florida has a sixty-day legislative session, so you must be strategic in a short time: “It is a mental chess game.”
Part of Phillip’s strategy involves…his socks. The more outlandish, the better. After all, Phillip points out, politics is about building relationships. “The socks become something to talk about,” he says.
Phillip, a Democrat, knows how to talk to people on both sides of the aisle. And typically, those people do not look much like him. Phillips says that of 1,800 or so lobbyists in Florida, only thirty are minorities.
Armed with an excellent memory and “a diehard commitment to work for everything,” which his mom taught him at a young age, Phillip is confident he holds his own with seasoned lawyers of all backgrounds. After all, he overcame being unemployed and homeless by staying focused and putting forth sustained maximum effort.
He has come a long way, but he hasn’t abandoned his first love: cooking.
“Outside of politics, running political campaigns, cooking, and teaching more people about the cultural diversity of Millennials—the future of our nation,” Phillip says, “I’m just an everyday guy trying to become the first lobbyist to ever win a Grammy award.”
If anyone can do it, it’s Phillip A. Singleton.
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Photos courtesy of author
Thank you for featuring Phillip and for mentioning my book! I appreciate you.