For the first day of my work experience, I spent the day walking around the NC State Legislative building with two lobbyists – Ms. Laura DeVivo and Ms. Angel Sams. They are partners at their firm, DeVivo and Sams, and I got to spend the day walking around with them and watching them meet with reps and senators to pitch their upcoming legislation. The first day, we focused a lot on a specific bill regarding Optometrists. We were fighting on behalf of their clients to allow Optometrists to complete level 1 (very simple) surgeries without needing to go to years of medical school. We started off the day meeting with two senators who were in charge of drafting the bill to help clarify language in it, and then we started meeting senators and reps that were on the fence so that we could gain their support. Throughout the day, I probably met about 15 senators and reps, and it was very interesting to see their different opinions and personalities. Ms. DeVivo said that the building was like a high school: you have many of the cliques, a few popular people, the a couple bullies, and the few that keep to themselves. After doing her job for so long, she really has learned how to get to each, and change her lobbying strategy depending on the person that she was meeting with.