About Sheila Ballen

Sheila Ballen is the People’s Lobbyist — a strategic communications and government relations veteran with over two decades of experience turning complex challenges into real results for mission-driven organizations.

She works at the intersection of media, policy, and power. Her focus: strategic and crisis communications, media relations, government affairs, and community engagement. With a deep-rooted network and seasoned instincts, she connects clients to the elected officials, agencies, media, and partners who move the needle — and she stays at the table until the work is done.

Her career spans the highest-stakes arenas in Pennsylvania public life. She’s led communications for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Mastery Charter Schools, Good Schools Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia Department of Commerce. On the political side, she ran for Pennsylvania’s 175th State Representative District, directed the National Democratic Institute’s office in Kazakhstan, served as campaign director and council aide for Philadelphia City Councilwoman Happy Fernandez, and served as statewide field director for Allyson Schwartz’s U.S. Senate campaign.

When she’s not in the room where it happens, Sheila’s in the crowd where the music plays. In 2015, she committed to seeing a show a week and blogged every note of it. Read about that journey: 50 Shows. She serves on the Highmark Mann Music Center’s Chairman Council to satisfy her live music needs.