But I haven't seen a lot of people on that side of the gun debate do that, though one professional activist claims that's a key part of what she does.

I'm skeptical, but that's what she says.

In ELLE.com’s monthly series Office Hours, we ask people in powerful positions to take us through their first jobs, worst jobs, and everything in between. This month, we spoke to Angela Ferrell-Zabala, the executive director of Moms Demand Action, the grassroots arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, the nation’s largest gun violence prevention organization. Powered by volunteers, Moms Demand Action advocates across the country for gun safety measures, including expanding background checks and keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers. A longtime organizer, Ferrell-Zabala spent five years at Planned Parenthood, where she became the national director of strategic partnerships, before joining Everytown in 2019 and being named executive director in 2023. “It was an honor to be able to dive in,” Ferrell-Zabala says of being offered the role. “It was also scary, because this is literally a life-or-death issue. Too many lives have been taken and stolen, because there are so many folks who don’t have the courage to do the right thing.” Below, the mother of four reveals the career advice Vice President Kamala Harris gave her, how she approaches talking to people who don’t agree with her politically, and the surprising job she’d consider taking on next.

My first job

I worked at McDonald’s when I was 16. It was my very first paid job, and it lasted one week—not because I got fired, just because it was not for me. But through that, I learned to have patience with myself and that it’s OK to not be perfect; it takes a team, not just one person. I still carry that throughout my work.

OK, so maybe it's just me, but I find the whole "my first job was at McDonald's" thing to be a little weird in light of Kamala Harris trying the same thing. Of course, McDonald's actually is a lot of people's first job, so that might just be on me.

However, Ferrell-Zabala does have a couple of jobs we can easily prove and aren't on a lot of people's resumes. She worked for Planned Parenthood, then went to work for Moms Demand Action. Maybe it's just me, but there's a certain irony there, what with Planned Parenthood trying to prevent people from becoming moms in the first place, but I have a weird sense of humor.

But that's all mostly to introduce you to who Ferrell-Zabala is. She's a professional progressive who has never even hinting of being close to the middle of the road on any issue.

And yet, we have this:

How I talk to people who don’t agree with me politically

You have to have two people who are willing to have a conversation; if someone is already amped up and ready to bully or push in, that’s not a place to start. The good news is the majority of people I have come in contact with are just everyday people who have their own needs and desires and fears. I think the best approach is to meet people where they are. Curiosity is a choice. You can decide that you’re going to shut down, and you don’t care to know, and you’re just going to be right, or you can actually hear somebody and listen and ask questions, like: “Tell me more about why you think that way.” I’ve learned to do that, and I’ve had some of the most fruitful conversations with people. The goal isn’t to convince someone—it’s to hear, understand, and learn together.

Now, that's fascinating to me, because she's the executive director for Moms Demand Action, an organization that has never even hinted of understanding the pro-gun side of the debate in the least.

This is an organization that demonizes pro-gun politicians as being bought and paid for by the nebulous "gun lobby" or, if they're feeling like being specific, the NRA. They can't seem to grok the possibility that some people actually don't think gun control is a good idea.

Now, doesn't this seem to run counter to what Ferrell-Zabala claims here?

That's because I don't think she actually buys what she's peddling here. This is the touchy-feely answer, the answer people will look at and think, "That's how it should be."

But if that's really what she did, we'd see a much different approach from Moms Demand Action, and we don't.

I'm not claiming that if she understood where we were coming from, she'd be pro-gun because I'm not a believer that the only reason someone opposes something is because they don't understand it. But I will say that using the same old claims that her organization keeps pushing suggests that she's never actually talked to someone on this side of the debate and actually listened to what we said.