Reared in socially progressive Los Angeles, Drew Gowing rebelled, as was the form, by dropping out of the prestigious University of Southern California to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) on a full-time, two-year missionary assignment in Canada. After returning to the U.S., he transferred to Brigham Young University to read philosophy and earn the distinction Bachelor of Arts.
He began his career as an intern on the Senate Labor and Human Resource Committee in Washington, D.C., and ultimately cut his teeth in the press rooms on Capitol Hill. In the nation's capital, communications and political science combined into the incontrovertible truth that publishing ensures, supports and shapes the world of politics.
In the U.S. House of Representatives, and subsequently the United States Senate, Gowing went on to serve as United States Press Secretary. Commissioned to align public perception with policy initiatives, Gowing began each morning by sourcing the unvarnished news; single handedly cutting out newspaper headers and collating them by relevancy; and with a handwritten synopsis hand delivered the local, national and foreign affairs headlines in a spiral bound briefing booklet to congressional staffers. Prior to the Internet Revolution, Gowing was curating nonpartisan news and information for the U.S. Congress.
Continuing education at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, Gowing went on to global management consulting whereto advise the private, public, and non-profit sectors around the world. But during the 2008 election year, three contingents to his past coincided when the LDS Church collected over $20+ million to promulgate the State of California’s Proposition 8. Herewith, church, state and law collided in what is described as the only instance in U.S. history where civil and pre-existing rights were taken away from a specific and targeted minority. Tapped to edit a not-for-profit political exposé thereafter, he returned to public life to devote what he calls his "second act" to its service.
Mr. Gowing is the inaugural editor of Charlatan Magazine: The Exposé of Politics & Style.