Celinda Lake is a leading political strategist, serving as tactician and senior advisor. Celinda and her firm are known for cutting-edge research on issues including the economy, health care, the environment and education, and have worked for a number of institutions including the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Governor's Association (DGA), AFL-CIO, SEIU, CWA, IAFF, Sierra Club, NARAL, Human Rights Campaign, Planned Parenthood, The Next Generation, EMILY's List, VoteVets Action Fund, and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Her international work has included work in Liberia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus Ukraine, South Africa, and Central America.

Since its formation, Lake Research Partners has become one of the most respected Democratic polling firms in the country. The firm's work has moved the progressive agenda forward on a variety of issues. Working against the conservatives, Celinda’s research demonstrated that the phrase "religious political extremists” was much more communicative than the vernacular "religious right." In the healthcare arena, her research showed that talking about "reducing health care costs" and the 8 out of 10 working families without adequate health insurance was key. Her interviews and statistics have been quoted in the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal as well as a variety of magazines, including Newsweek, Glamour and Marie Claire. Celinda has appeared on numerous television and radio news programs, including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox News and NPR, discussing her work and providing expert commentary.

Celinda is one of the nation's foremost experts on electing women candidates and on framing issues to women voters. American Politics calls Celinda a "super-strategist or, better yet, the Godmother," and Working Woman says she is "arguably the most influential woman in her field." She is renowned for her groundbreaking research on single women voters in conjunction with the Voter Participation Center and has helped elect numerous female candidates. She and her firm have elected more women to office than any other firm in the country, including a number of firsts among women, women of color and LGBTQ candidates. She is a national expert in electing women candidates working with the Barbara Lee Family Foundation.

Celinda has a long record of defeating incumbents, including for four U.S. Senators Jon Tester, Mark Begich, Debbie Stabenow, and Sherrod Brown. She was the pollster for AOC in 2018 and her firm defeated a dozen incumbents for the House.

Lake Research Partners has a long history of successful initiative campaigns. In 2008, Celinda polled in California to beat parental notification initiatives three times in a row. In 2006, Celinda helped with successful minimum wage campaigns in five states and was the pollster on the first successful effort to defeat an anti-gay marriage initiative in Arizona. In 2016 she worked on the biggest IE to keep married Republican women from voting the same way as their husbands. During the 1992 election cycle, Celinda oversaw focus group research for the Clinton/Gore campaign and served as a general consultant throughout the campaign. Celinda is also credited with identifying key voter groups including Reagan seniors, NASCAR dads, waitress moms, and the marriage gap. In 2005, she co-authored and published What Women Really Want with the Free Press.

Prior to forming Lake Research Partners, Celinda was partner and vice president at Greenberg-Lake. Her earlier experience includes serving as Political Director of the Women's Campaign Fund, as the Research Director at the Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and as a Policy Analyst for the Subcommittee on Select Education.

Celinda, a native of Montana—born and raised on a ranch—and one of the political world's most avid whitewater rafters, holds a master’s degree in political science and survey research from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and a certificate in political science from the University of Geneva, in Switzerland. Celinda received her undergraduate degree from Smith College in Massachusetts, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude and was recently awarded the Distinguished Alumna Medal by the College.