Deidre DeJear

Deidre DeJear has dedicated her career to community and small business development. In 2008, on the brink of the recession, Deidre found her affinity for working with small business and building relationships in the community. She began her own small business, Caleo Enterprises, which provides entrepreneurs affordable marketing tools and business strategies. As the sole-founder, Deidre’s work has impacted over 300 small businesses and nonprofit organizations.

Deidre developed and implemented the Financial Capability Network, a collaborative that targets low to moderate income individuals and families. Over the last 5 years, the program provided nearly 100,000 Iowans access to financial management, knowledge and skills. This included training that provides quality education to more than 300 businesses and nonprofits.

In 2005, as a Drake University student, Deidre co-founded Back 2 School Iowa, a non-profit dedicated to collaborating with communities and corporations in order to provide resources to inspire youth in continuing in their education and build their future careers. This small organization impacts more than 3,000 Central Iowans annually.

Her first introduction to campaigns was through her grandmother, who became County Elections Commissioner in Mississippi in the mid-nineties. It was from that early experience, that she learned the value in engaging the community through voting. 

In 2012, Deidre worked statewide to re-elect President Barack Obama. She developed and implemented a program to educate, motivate, and mobilize low-propensity voters, which resulted in over 5,000 new registrants and more than doubled African American turnout. After 2012, Deidre went on to manage two victorious campaigns for Des Moines School Board, District 2 & 4.

In every campaign she has worked for, Deidre has a track record of increasing turnout and registering new voters.