Dan Sinker has been a lot of things over the course of his life: a punk rock journalist, publisher, teacher and imposter. It’s that last title that brought him celebrity status.
Dan is creator of the now famous @MayorEmanuel Twitter feed. For those who missed it, Dan started the feed when former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel began running for mayor of Chicago. Dan expertly mimicked the real Emanuel’s famously combative style and penchant for explitives. It started as a parody and evolved into an epic poem that garnered more followers than Rahm Emanuel himself.
That one Twitter feed made Dan, an educator at Columbia College in Chicago, an instant celebrity. It landed him guest appearances on shows like The Colbert Report and a book deal.
I caught up with Dan at Personal Democracy Forum in New York and he was kind of to talk about his story, what’s in store for him next, and what he learned about social media and personal branding from his experience.
