In 2018, Lauren Baer ran for Congress from Florida's 18th District.  She won the Democratic primary handily and came close to unseating her rival in a deep-red district.  While she had a stellar professional background, including stints working directly for two Secretaries of State and for the Ambassador to the United Nations, she was a first-time candidate and her district had never had an out, lesbian mom candidate running for the seat.  She now runs Arena.run, an organization that prepares new candidates for office and trains staff to be effective.  But years before all this, Lauren found herself in a career transition, wondering what she could or should do, and how she would accomplish that.  That's when she and our host met, and it's when she was confronted big time with the anxieties and satisfactions that come up in networking.  In this episode, Lauren talks with Coach Michael about her initial views on networking, how she made the process work with her, and how she took it to the next level when running for office. She also has great advice for people thinking of public office but who haven't quite taken the first step.  An extra-delightful and interesting episode!