MKE Influencers: Kristin Brey, making Wisconsin politics fun

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- This will be a busy year for politics here in Wisconsin. Politicians on both sides are doing everything they can to get your vote. It can be a lot to sift through the noise.

This week's MKE Influencer is here to help. Kristin Brey is the founder of "As Goes Wisconsin."

Her goal is to make complicated issues easier to understand, and maybe even a little fun.

After 12 weeks of maternity leave, Kristin Brey is getting back online.

"And boy did I miss a lot," she said with a smile.

As the founder of "As Goes Wisconsin," you can find her commenting on any and all things Wisconsin, particularly politics.

"So, BuzzFeed had a new article out that I couldn't not, not comment on," she said, as an example.

But her main goal is simple.

I want to make things that are complicated, or boring, entertaining," Brey said simply. 

How she got here is a little complicated, though.

I'm from Madison. I moved to LA when I was 16 to be an actress," she explained.

She spent time on both coasts over the next 17 years. She also studied public health, politics and worked in tech.

"I quickly realized, I don't want to sell software for the rest of my life," she said in her Milwaukee living room. "There was an itch to perform but also a politics bug."

So Brey decided to make a documentary back home.

"I got home to my parent's house in central Wisconsin on March 15, 2020, and two days later, everything shut down," she said of the unusual timing.

The shutdown, though, ended up opening some doors.

"Hey, Kris? There you are. So, I was going to try to do this absentee ballot request," you can hear her mom say in one of her first videos from home.

It's a video of Brey walking her mom through the process of getting an absentee ballot in March of 2020, and it struck a nerve.

"Get your iPhone. Well, that's right here, and your ID," she explained in the clip.

"That kind of just took off. In a way that the content I had previously been making never really did," Brey said.

Brey had found her calling, posting on Facebook and YouTube.

"Perfectionism is a battle," she acknowledged.

And eventually she took her videos to As Goes Wisconsin's nearly 60,000 followers on TikTok.

"Today is a great day to see if you're still registered to vote," she says in one video.

It all led to a lot of other opportunities.

Including a stint hosting a daily radio show and podcast, and opinion videos for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"I'm more left than right. But I like to think that I want to be able to make fun of all sides," she said of her own political views.

Brey said, regardless of political beliefs, what she wants is to get people involved in the political process.

"The goal is to inform and entertain people, and like I say on the website, to get people to give a damn," she explained.

She has plenty of opinions to share. As we head into this political year, Brey doesn't have any predictions for the unpredictable Wisconsin. But she'll be there to talk about it. 

"I think the fact that it actually feels like there's value being delivered is also why it's very easy to keep doing this," she said.

Brey posted a video last week to her followers, letting them know her daily radio show and podcast was coming to an end. She also teased a big announcement about a new opportunity coming in the next week or so. So, stay tuned to see what's next! She's back from maternity leave and making content as this election year heats up.