The Decatur small business owner explains that bringing people together is the root of her profession.
DECATUR, Ga. — Your voice is your vote, heard every election season.
This is a reminder that behind every vote is a real person who had a reason to vote.
Candidates are spending money on polls and staff trying to decipher Georgia's electoral districts.
But nothing beats a face-to-face conversation.
Introducing small business owner and artist Daphne Dale.
Daphne Dail is co-owner of MudFire Studios & Gallery in Decatur. Dail has been running small businesses for over 10 years.
“Mudfire is essentially a community space for people who are educated in clay,” Dale said. “Everyone can come here and interact with the work and hopefully love it and take it home.”
Dale explained that the main studio space serves approximately 250 members and employs approximately 20 staff members.
“They come in as strangers, but they form lifelong friendships,” Dale said.
issues she cares about
reproductive health care
Dale explained that reproductive health care is one of the top issues of concern this election season.
“You can't say you care about people and then take away their ability to access health care,” she says. “That means a lot to me.”
LGBTQ+ rights
For Dale, reproductive health care is also about human rights.
“I think the LGBTQ community is routinely used as a punching bag to create laws and rules that govern that community,” Dale said.
Here's Dale's take on this 2024 election season:
“I think what I've always worried about is how disconnected we become from the idea that the point of politics, the fundamental purpose of politics, is to look out for each other,” Dale said. he said.
Dale is concerned about how identity and lived experience are used as wedge issues to divide people. She mentioned her own identity as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and she said she has already seen it happen.
“I think as members of marginalized communities, we are used to being used as a divisive football,” she explained.
Although politics can be frustrating at times, Dale said he is optimistic about the next generation of voters and their potential to use modern communication tools as a way to connect with each other.
“We hope that future generations will be able to increase our digital media literacy and utilize social media to avoid some of the negative effects of social media and connect with each other in authentic and supportive ways. ” she said.
Utilizing new ways to reach each other is creating space for people to talk and listen to each other, Dale said.
“I think I'm most optimistic about the communication that's happening between people,” Dale said.
Watch the Voice of the Voter segment during the Georgia Vote Sunday at 11 a.m. on WXIA.
