Welcome to Your Next Big Win.
At Top Drawer Strategies, we're more than just a consultancy – we're your strategic partners to achieve remarkable success. Specializing in government relations, political consulting, public relations and media production, we're here to pave the way for your next policy, messaging or campaign victory.
Our track record speaks volumes: from local initiatives to national campaigns, our in-house advocacy consistently delivers results that capture the nation's attention. As a Certified-Active Small Entrepreneurship with Louisiana Economic Development’s Hudson Initiative, we at Top Drawer understand how to overcome barriers that can get in the way of business. We specialize in turning ambitious endeavors into triumphant realities, transforming long shots into serious contenders.
It’s Who We Are.
Top Drawer Strategies builds its business on one defining characteristic: trust. A focused client list enables Top Drawer Strategies to stay committed to your goals without compromising the principles of other clients.
We pride ourselves on our close-knit relationships and deep-rooted trust with clients. Representing a diverse range of policy fronts, we leverage our extensive network and impeccable rapport with the working press, legislative staff, agency-level officials and policy makers across goverment to ensure your message is heard loud and clear.
With Top Drawer Strategies, you're not just another client – you're part of our family. Expect nothing less than unwavering dedication, expertise and perseverance. Together, we'll navigate every challenge and celebrate every triumph, crafting a legacy you can be proud of.
Join us on the journey to success. Let's make magic happen, together. Welcome to Top Drawer Strategies.
Our Wins.
Relationships that Matter
Top Drawer’s effective relationship building has the power to turn frequent political adversaries into unlikely friends that champion our clients’ interests. Our advocacy has made the difference for clients on controversial issues that tend to divide policy makers, because we find ways to bring people together. From persusasion to compromise, when it matters most we’ve found ways to make the impossible happen and turn foes to friends for our clients because of our credibility with decision makers at all levels of government.
Rewriting the Status-Quo
In an ever-changing political landscape we pride oruselves not just on our ability to predict political outcomes, but to shape the future for our clients. In 2023 alone, our efforts unseated two incumbents, electing a new sheriff in Washington Parish and the first woman mayor-president in Lafayette Parish. And of course, we’re proud of our work to re-elect Louisiana’s Ambassador to the world, Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser. If you don’t like how things are going, we’re ready to help you change the status quo, and build important partnerships with transformative leaders for decades to come. Our expert management of resources for targeted messaging and major messaging campaigns has helped us win dozens of candidate and issue-based campaigns.
Pictured: Lafayette Mayor-President Monique Blanco Boulet on election night 2023.
Investment Where It Counts
Over a decade of advocacy, Top Drawer has brokered hundreds of millions in investments for Louisianans. Our work with former Terrebonne Parish President and now CPRA Chairman Gordy Dove to secure a steady investment in the historic Morganza to the Gulf flood protection system will ensure that the Louisianan way of life is a reality for generations to come. Repeated against-all-odds work to invest in K-12 education after a decade of devastating spending freezes has produced important results for school districts across the state. Our commitment to state investments in smart partnerships with business and industry have borne fruit for organizations like the Port of South Louisiana - the largest tonnage port in the Western Hemisphere - completing capital projects years ahead of schedule to keep our goods and services moving. We’re especially proud of our work to fund worthy non-governmental organizations that serve our children and communities, like our three-year successful effort to fund an emergency project for Girl Scouts Louisiana East and protect the camp experience for more than 14,000 young women in Louisiana.
Lobbying “Plus”: Shaping Public Opinion
Owner and Founder Mary-Patricia Wray is a trusted source for political commentary because she brings the truth to every conversation. Through integrity of message, regular print, radio and television commenatry, her trusted voice lends precision and credibilty to every clients’ battle for the hearts and minds of citizens, voters and policy-makers. Our firm’s focus on utilizing the best data, polling and message testing is self-proving. With Top Drawer on your side, your organization can rely on our ability to make public opinion your greatest political asset and not hiring us your opponent’s greatest regret.
It’s What We Do.
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
Advocacy for your interests and building your brand for better representation at all levels of government cuts through red tape so you can focus on what matters most.
POLITICAL CONSULTING
We execute candidate social media management, earned media, radio, TV, messaging strategy. and GOTV planning and implementation that will keep you on top.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Networking opportunities we facilitate for our clients enhance their visibility and influence within state government and the broader community.
PUBLIC POLICY
In-house legislative instrument and agency rule drafting keeps your goals confidential and your opponents guessing to get smarter results faster.
STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
Whether it’s a candidate, a ballot initiative, or a piece of legislation, your story is at the heart of building a persuasive brand. We tell your story to build your brand and persuade your targets.
PUBLIC-FACING ADVOCACY
We specialize in brand building, public policy education, influencing public opinion and developing champions for client goals.
ADDITIONAL SERVICES
Bill monitoring and reporting
Issues management
Public relations
Branding
Media relationship development (story pitching, TV and radio booking)
Professional writing (press releases, official statements, editorial / opinion)
Campaign management
Analytics and data development / demographic targeting
Social media management
State budgeting and capital outlay strategy
And It’s What We’ve Done.
STATE BUDGET STRATEGIES
Making your priorities a priority for decision makers is what we do best. Our deep understanding of state budgeting policies produces big results.
TAX POLICY
After a decade of budget instability and the recent pandemic’s economic impact, fiscal crisis is a consistent concern in Louisiana. We work with clients to produce policy results that value the contributions of every Louisiana family and business.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
We have generated bipartisan support for controversial, smart polices that make Louisiana safer. We made our mark by creating support for investing in successful re-entry, smarter fines and fees, and data-driven solutions for over-incarceration.
HEALTHCARE
Providers, patients, and insurers all have a role to play in improving health outcomes. We’ve worked with all of them to produce better results at the agency level and beyond.
COASTAL RESTORATION & FLOOD PROTECTION
Our work, focusing on science-based rationale, convinces leaders to fight for policies and solutions that will preserve Louisiana’s way of life for generations to come and protect property and life in moments of crisis.
MULTIMODAL TRANSPORTATION
On behalf of our clients, we further policy that keeps goods and services moving to drive economic development, job creation and beneficial trade that benefit our people and companies.
PUBLIC PENSION SUSTAINABILITY
We believe in keeping promises, and that’s what we’ve promoted through press strategies that shape the conversation on public pension investments that respect the contributions of public servants.
We Can’t Wait to Meet You.
Mary-Patricia Wray, J.D. - Founder
Mary-Patricia Wray, J.D.
Mary-Patricia Wray, founder of Top Drawer Strategies, is a graduate of The Ohio State University (B.A.) and Loyola University New Orleans College of Law (J.D.) with more than a decade of government relations, public relations, and public policy experience in Louisiana. MP serves on the transition council of Governor Jeff Landry and as a strategic adviser on the transition process. She also serves as a senior advisor to Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser. MP is an adjunct professor of law at Tulane Law School in New Orleans, where she teaches Legislative and Administrative Advocacy, focusing on legislative drafting and agency rule-making, where her clinical course at the law school focuses on the Louisiana Constitution of 1974.
Before moving to Louisiana from Ohio in 2008, she worked for Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, later head of the Consumer Affairs Protection Agency. After focusing on constitutional law and administrative procedures in law school, MP put her knowledge to good use at the Louisiana Capitol. In 2012, she began representing clients focused on improving their communities by investing in public education and increasing access to high quality healthcare. She also works on policy issues surrounding criminal justice reform, healthcare delivery systems, economic development, multimodal transportation, coastal transportation, affordable energy, finance and tax issues, non-profit advocacy and local and municipal government.
Her expertise in messaging to moderate voters, and ability to persuade women voters, has led her to win three statewide campaigns in five years. MP served as one of the only staffers in the early years of John Bel Edwards’ 2015 campaign, securing victory for the only Democratic statewide elected official in Louisiana and the only Democratic governor in the Deep South. Her award winning advocacy contributed to another upset victory, 2018’s “Yes on 2” ballot initiative to erase one of Louisiana’s last remaining Jim Crow era laws and require the use of unanimous juries. She also led the successful statewide “No on 5” campaign, against payments in lieu of taxes, and the Foster Campbell for Public Service Commission campaign, a 24 parish race, in 2020.
MP has been recognized as an American Association of Political Consultants as a Top 40 under 40 for her work on more than fifty candidate and issue based campaigns and she brings an expertise in earned media and press management, digital advertising, television and radio production to her job in Government Relations to enhance the reputation and success her clients. She is involved in the Tulane and Loyola University communities, working to promote public interest as the highest good in every curriculum. She is the proud mother of Henry Lee and Weber Wray and resides in Baton Rouge with her husband, Ira.
Hannah Michel Hanks - Director of Strategic Communications
Hannah Michel Hanks
Hannah Michel Hanks, Director of Strategic Communications at Top Drawer Strategies, is an accomplished young professional with a proven track record in strategic communications. Her journey in communications began at Louisiana State University, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication, Public Relations with an emphasis on Energy and Public Affairs. She graduated with full college honors as a University Medalist and Distinguished Communicator.
Hannah’s drive for fostering impactful connections made her a leader on campus, where she served as President of the LSU chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America and Digital Managing Editor of LSU’s student newspaper the Reveille. In this role, she helped the Reveille earn multiple awards regionally and nationally.
Hannah’s experience encompasses a range of successful endeavors, including running an award-winning awareness campaign, consulting with a top Fortune 500 company and interning at a prominent full-service communications firm in Baton Rouge. This experience underscores her ability to navigate Louisiana’s complex political landscape with success and effectively convey messages that change behavior and drive action.
Her ability to distill complex concepts into clear, compelling narratives and package the narratives for effective consumption sets Hannah apart in the field of communications. She brings these skills, along with her passion for people with her into her role at Top Drawer.
Hannah lives with her husband, Timothy, and her dogs, Chicot and Jack, in Lafayette, where she spends time with her family and friends. In her free time, she enjoys reading, crocheting, meeting new people, hearing about their experiences and applying that information in her work to become a better communicator.
Let’s Make a Difference Together.
Does your campaign, candidate, company or cause need help telling its story and reaching its goals? Top Drawer Strategies is ready to serve. Please complete the form below, and a member of our team will be in touch with you as soon as possible.
