If marketing is persuasion, political communication is persuasion with real consequences.
Meet Dora Pekeč, one of the sharpest young strategists behind the messaging of one of the most talked-about political campaigns in the world right now. At just 25, she became press secretary to Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected mayor of New York City, after helping shape a progressive campaign that managed to turn complex policy debates about housing, public transit and affordability into messages that actually moved voters. In New York. A city with eight million opinions.
Foto: Matija Habljak/PIXSELL
Raised between Croatia and the United States and educated at Duke University, Dora entered the fast-paced world of American political campaigns early. Before New York politics discovered her talent for message discipline and narrative control, she was already working inside major national and local campaigns across the United States.
Translation: when the stakes are high and the headlines move fast, Dora is usually somewhere nearby making sure the message lands exactly where it should.
The New York mayoral campaign she helped shape quickly became a case study in how political communication travels in the internet age. Messages, visuals and campaign moments spread online at remarkable speed, turning policy discussions into viral content and attracting attention from journalists, strategists, designers and communications professionals around the world.
Foto: Matija Habljak/PIXSELL
At DK2026, Dora will take the audience behind the scenes of a campaign that captured both voters and the internet — unpacking how political messages are built, how narrative discipline works under constant media pressure and what it takes to communicate effectively when every sentence can end up trending.
One thing is certain: if you’ve ever wondered how political messaging actually works when the stakes are real, this is the session you don’t want to miss.
