Cynthia Miller is a native Texan who deeply loves her husband, her job, her city and her two adorable Maltese dogs, Lulu and Lolly. She adores the Lady Longhorns, walks around Lady Bird Lake and being at the top of her game in her chosen profession. Miller, a Harvard graduate, is also a classically-trained pianist who loves diving deep into projects, traveling around the world, being with friends and playing in the backyard with her pups. With so much love and personal satisfaction in Cynthia Miller’s life, one might be hard-pressed to imagine any conflict at all.
But in many ways conflict is at the heart of Miller’s drive to succeed and make a difference. From a young age, Miller knew she wanted to be a force for positive change in communities, and now has risen to impressive ranks as a political media consultant and strategist. Now 42 and after years on the East Coast in Washington DC and New York, this hard-boiled politico has made a place for herself back in Austin. And with the return to her roots she discovered another passion … which happens to be pink, purple and completely fuzzy.
Miller possesses a confidence and quirkiness that is a combination of her unique interests both professionally and personally. While her credentials might suggest a corner office on Congress Avenue full of plaques, honors and pictures of famous clients, she has opted for a funky East Austin loft overflowing with files, original artwork from the annual Art from the Streets Show and pink and purple candles from her Lulu and Lolly rescue dog project. She wears cool jewelry, a frilly blouse and a pair of shoes any sexy librarian would kill for. Her mile-a-minute speech flows with stories of how her love of Lulu and Lolly and all rescued animals has become a strong mission in her life, combining her innate talent for shaping and sharing messages with her ever-present need to make communities better.
She wants more than to simply write a check to a nonprofit. That’s not how Miller does things. Instead, she created a calendar written and presented from the perspective of her two beloved Malteses. People loved it. Luluandlolly.com was born and with it an entirely new – and much prettier – chapter of Miller’s life began to unfold. Proceeds from notecards, candles, lotions and more go to benefit organizations that help rescue dogs. Miller also created a viral music video hit, Rescue Dog Rock! that has been featured in The Washington Post and has raised even more public awareness about the need to help rescue animals. “I called in a lot of favors on that,” she said.
For Miller, the shift from live-or-die political ads to live-or-die animal rescue was less of a leap and more of a skip. “It’s really one of those things where I have these ideas, and since I started putting them into motion, they continue to draw other forces and take on a life of their own,” Miller explained. “I just got a phone call from a drama teacher in New Hampshire. Her class has decided to raise money for a local shelter for their big spring project, and she wants to incorporate Rescue Dog Rock! into it. She’s going to have her kids write their own verses about their dogs, and their rescue experiences, and put on a live performance performing our song. I was blown away. I made Rescue Dog Rock! to give rescue groups – who don’t have a lot of resources – something flashy and fun and glitzy to share with their members and to use to reach out to their local communities.”
Miller began her career in politics working at the Kennedy School of Government while an undergraduate at Harvard University. She worked in the trenches on campaigns throughout the country, including the winning campaigns of Texas Governor Ann Richards and New York City Mayor David Dinkins. She’s also worked in the legislative process, on Capitol Hill for Congressman Martin Frost and as general counsel for the Texas House Committee on Public Education.
In the process, she forged lifelong relationships around the country and eventually made her way back to Houston where she earned her J.D. from the University of Houston and where she met her husband on a political campaign. But Dean Rindy – one of Texas’ most respected Democratic strategists – lived in Austin, and that’s when she decided to return and set up Rindy Miller Media.
She also established a home with her unconventional family of two canine kids and began to feel the call to help rescue dogs like Lolly who had been saved from a home where 140 dogs were neglected, malnourished and left to fend for themselves. When Miller volunteered to help place the dogs, Lolly captured her heart – and Lulu now has a partner in crime.
Miller did not plan her journey. Instead, she unapologetically followed her bliss one project at a time. “When I was in college, I met people who were extraordinarily directed, and they always impressed me. I never had the I-Want-To-Be-This-or-That-When-I’m-40 strategy. I think I was having too much joy following my interests, and I was fortunate enough to find them lead me in a good direction. The truth is, when I was a young political activist, we didn’t have the barrage of cable news and talking heads that we do now. I teach classes sometimes at UT or other seminars and there are these kids who want to graduate and be on TV. It’s like, “Guys, you’re not going to leave this lecture and then go ‘play Hardball.’” I do some of that – I’m the Democratic analyst on presidential politics for Fox News Radio, and I do local Fox TV, but I don’t have any ambition to be some superstar talking head.”
Miller is a woman who started her activist career as a teenager organizing a program at the Texas School for the Mentally and Physically Challenged. Today, she remains passionate about helping to elect people she believes will make superior public servants. Her nights and weekends are devoted to urging people to care about animals by putting a humorous and light-hearted spin on a deadly serious topic. It is a project she plans to pursue and grow for years to come.
“It was when I was in college and working in the community around Cambridge, and at the Kennedy School, that I realized how much politics itself impacts what change ultimately happens … And that sense of change, making things better, stays with me today.”