🎼 Culture Is Power

Cultural Soft Power

Why culture matters

Soft power is the ability to attract and inspire, not to coerce. Culture carries a nation’s stories, values, and ways of living. When people choose your music, films, food, and ideas, they also warm to your goals.

I have worked at the intersection of policy, commerce, and culture as a former mayor of a border city in Arizona, former Director of the Arizona Department of Commerce, and former Chief of Staff at U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Today, as CEO of Intermestic Partners, an international business advisory firm founded in 2011, I help leaders link cultural insight to strategy. Intermestic Partners specializes in cross border trade and development and works with top national and international companies.

What builds soft power

• Culture that travels, from film and food to language and design

• Political values that feel credible in practice

• Foreign policy that aligns with the stories a nation tells

A single global hit can raise tourism, language study, and consumer preference at the same time, a multiplier effect that outperforms many paid campaigns.

Proof in practice

Hollywood shaped global perceptions of the United States for a century. The Korean wave turned music and drama into exports, then into visits, study, and product demand. Anime lifted interest in Japan’s language, travel, and creative sectors. The pattern is consistent. When culture resonates, diplomacy and trade become easier.

How to convert culture into outcomes

• Invest in creators who reflect lived experience

• Remove friction for global audiences with subtitles, platforms, and community events

• Align policy with message, credibility is everything

• Measure tourism, study enrollments, brand lift, and partnership deals

The digital advantage

Platforms erase distance. A video in Seoul can reach São Paulo in minutes. Nations that help creators publish, translate, and convene fans will set the pace.

Call to action

If you want to turn cultural assets into economic and diplomatic wins, let us talk. Intermestic Partners helps governments, cities, and brands design programs that move from influence to impact.