Why subscribe?
Banner and Backbone is dedicated to centering the conversation in US politics on fundamentals: the Constitution, the people, and the government that serves them both.
Supporting the channel is a step towards a modern American society where civic knowledge is a virtue 🦅🇺🇸
Meet the team
Frederic Poag
Frederic received a graduate assistantship from East Tennessee State University and completed a Master of Arts in History with a focus on China and Russia. As a graduate student, Frederic received the Staff Award given to Top Graduate Assistants at ETSU.
He made the transition to the film & entertainment industry after a successful career as an aviation operations manager for American Airlines.
Recently, he worked in the Digital Media space with high-profile digital creators as a producer & creative development.
He’s developed his own and partnered with other writers to develop speculative screenplays, features, and television, in horror, drama, action, and comedy.
Lawrence Winnerman
Lawrence Winnerman is a writer, strategist, and entrepreneur who has built a career at the intersection of technology, politics, and culture. He began his professional journey at Amazon, where he advanced from customer service to editorial leadership during the company’s early years. At Microsoft, he led global e-commerce, content strategy, and program management teams, overseeing multimillion-dollar budgets and driving large-scale digital transformation initiatives.
Beyond corporate leadership, Lawrence has dedicated his work to strengthening democracy and civic engagement. He is the creator of The Citizens’ Oath, a movement designed to renew personal responsibility for the Constitution, and a founder of Human Sovereignty, which calls citizens to reclaim democratic power and resist authoritarianism. As a co-founder of Banner and Backbone, he brings decades of experience in communication, strategy, and movement-building to foster conversations that challenge complacency and inspire collective action.
Nick Paro
Nick received a Bachelor’s in Music Theory and Composition from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Southern New Hampshire University. As an undergraduate student at SNHU, Nick was inducted into the Sigma Psi chapter of the Alpha Sigma Lambda Honor Society and graduated summa cum laude for academic excellence.
Between degrees, Nick served in the U.S. Army as a Sergeant and deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2014. Additionally, Nick served as a trainer, augmenting Battalion pre-deployment training exercises, at the Fort Irwin National Training Center.
He transitioned into Software Development after completing the undergraduate degree at SNHU, a federal apprenticeship program with training at the Code Fellows Academy, and had a successful career at Amazon, and finally as a Senior DevOps Architect/Engineer at Mindbody.
