Back in the U.S.A.
From launching a student record label at Beloit to founding a global media company, Rebecca Lammers’ career has been defined by innovation. Now, she’s using her entrepreneurial skills to advocate for expat voting rights and tax reform on the global stage.
Rebecca Lammers’07 only recently got involved in politics, doing advocacy work on tax policy as it affects expat-Americans. A successful global music industry professional, she began her career when she was a student at Beloit. A music major and an entrepreneur, she founded a record label, Green Light Go Records, at the Center for Entrepreneurship in Liberal Education at Beloit (CELEB). She moved abroad for a master’s program in music business management at the University of Westminster, and is the CEO of Laika Network, an online video management company based in London that she co-founded in 2015. She was elected as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention to represent Americans living abroad.
[The late] Ian Nie encouraged me to use the new recording studio there to record the first EP released under the student record label I ran my senior year. He always supported students in doing more with music, whatever shape or direction it took. I don’t think I would have had the courage to go out on my own in 2015 if I hadn’t had that support from CELEB when I was there.
We were encouraged during my time at Beloit to be multidisciplinary, so even though my education background is in music and business, I was fearless about exploring politics and tax policy when it started to affect me.
I was never a political person until after 2016. I got involved volunteering in 2017 with the U.K. chapter of Democrats Abroad and it took off from there. My advocacy work has focused on the tax discrimination of Americans abroad. We suffer from an outdated stereotype that we are all rich, but most people living abroad do so for family, work, or to study, and are not wealthy. We advocate for what’s called residency-based taxation, the way most other countries tax their citizens.
Some people question my skills in advocating for Americans abroad, given that my background isn’t in politics, but what I’ve accomplished over the last few years through my advocacy work speaks for itself. I have raised over $100,000 for Democrats Abroad through tax education webinars over the last few years, and helped thousands of people better understand their tax filing obligations as Americans living outside of the United States. It shouldn’t be complicated, but unfortunately, it is, which is why I advocate to simplify the tax laws.
Many Americans abroad don’t vote because they think there’s a connection between taxes and voting. I help raise awareness of people’s right to vote by dispelling myths. Raising awareness that Americans living abroad can vote in U.S. elections regardless of how long they’ve lived abroad is a big part of my volunteer work.
I think I was elected out of appreciation for my service to the American abroad community. A lot of people thought being a delegate this year would simply be a formality with everyone expecting President Biden to be the nominee, but with him stepping down, there was a lot of work to do, and the few thousand delegates played a bigger role at the DNC Convention in Chicago. I had no idea it would be one of the most historical conventions in recent history.
The convention was like a week-long political pep rally on steroids. Each day, there was a delegate breakfast with speakers, followed by events and activities with speakers, and then the convention program at the United Center every evening with more speakers, from local leaders to former presidents! Throughout the week, I heard many speakers with different styles and deliveries, and gained a deep appreciation for great oratory. Everyone inspired through their speeches in different ways, which made up a rich tapestry of the spoken word. My favorite speaker was Sheryl Lee Ralph, an actress from “Abbott Elementary,” who gave a riveting speech at the Women’s Caucus meeting on the last day of the convention.
Behind the scenes as a delegate, things were different from what you could see on TV. Every evening, the convention opened and closed with a prayer. We also said the Pledge of Allegiance and someone performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the beginning of the program. Delegates weren’t informed of who was speaking which night except for the headliners, but I knew the lineup because someone had suggested I sign up for the press mailing list. They emailed the program one hour before they started each evening, so I knew when would be a good time to step out for a break or to grab some food!
We were told to look our best since the TV cameras could be on us at any moment in the arena, and they were right. Friends and family sent me screenshots and pictures from their TVs where they caught me in the audience. There were so many cameras, and there was no way to know which ones were pointed at you, so you had to be ready at all times.
The security at the arena was some of the strictest I’d ever seen. They had the Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration, Chicago Police, and police from across Illinois. We weren’t allowed to bring signs into the arena, but once inside, volunteers in high-vis jackets came out with bags full of signs and handed them out to delegates in each row. Everyone would pass them down and then we were directed when to hold the signs up. The audience looked coordinated because it was very organized.
My core job as a delegate was to raise awareness that the organization Democrats Abroad exists, and to help spread the word that Americans who live abroad can register for an overseas absentee ballot to vote. We were a small delegation of only 21 delegates, so we were pulling double duty trying to spread out to attend as many events as possible and raise awareness. I wore a sash that said “VoteFromAbroad.org,” and a lot of people asked if they could get a picture with me. Some had heard of Democrats Abroad and were excited we were there. Others had never heard of us and wanted to learn more. We were also asked to do press interviews, especially with the international press, who were covering the convention from all over the world.
I had only flown in from London the day before the convention took place, so was initially jet-lagged. There were after-parties each night, but given how long our days were, I only had the energy to attend one. Some people went from 7 a.m. until 2 a.m. each day, getting a few hours of sleep and then doing it again every day, running on pure adrenaline. I was exhausted, but exhilarated, throughout the whole week.
Looking back on the convention, I’m grateful for the opportunity and the experience. I think it gave a lot of people the jet fuel we need to make it through the election. And as an expat, I usually only see a negative view of the U.S. from international news sources, so to experience so much positive energy in person was really uplifting.
