(The Center Square) – In a major staff turnover in the administration of Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, communications director Seferiana Day Hasegawa has been replaced, and a supporter of the mayor has been named in a new role as a strategic communications consultant.
Mayoral spokesperson Sage Wilson did not specify the reason for the changes but confirmed they had occurred.
“Dawn Schellenberg has stepped in as the Interim Communications Director for the Mayor’s Office. Crystal Fincher will also be joining the team as a Communications Strategy Consultant beginning this week,” he said in a brief email Monday to The Center Square.
He did not respond to a request for details on how much the two would be paid.
Day Hasegawa said in an email to The Center Square that she was no longer employed in the mayor’s office but would not offer any other explanation or details.
Schellenberg is the longtime spokesperson for the city’s Department of Transportation, and Fincher is a political consultant who owns Seattle community radio station KVRU 107.5.
She hosts a podcast on the station called Hacks and Wonks, which often features interviews with left-leaning political candidates and office holders.
Audio of the show shows her frequently praising Wilson for her political and organizing abilities, and her ability to win the mayor’s race over incumbent mayor Bruce Harrell in November.
The departure of Day Hasegawa is the third major shakeup to Wilson’s staff in just over a month, following the resignation of Jon Grant, her chief adviser on homelessness and housing in late May.
Wilson also replaced her chief of staff, longtime friend Kate Brunette Kreuzer, in mid-May 2026, appointing Esther Handy, a city hall veteran, as interim chief of staff.
The staffing shakeup followed months of internal friction and deteriorating relations between the mayor’s office and the Seattle City Council.
The communications director is in charge of how the mayor’s image is portrayed, and the message Wilson has been putting out hasn’t always cast her in a positive light outside of her progressive base.
Heightened tensions between Wilson and the business community have been a big issue.
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz accused Wilson in May in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal of vilifying employers and treating corporations as political enemies, despite the city’s continued reliance on them for tax revenue.
She joined a barista picket line at a local Starbucks after winning the election and said she was boycotting Starbucks, as should consumers.
As mayor, she later walked back comments, saying she had ordered a Starbucks latte. Her announcement came after Seattle-based Starbucks announced it was opening a regional headquarters in Nashville and moving some Seattle-based jobs to the city.
Wilson also said “bye” to millionaires who want to leave the state due to the new income tax in a now viral video.
Wilson also suffered negative publicity when she had to back off her pledge to open 500 units of temporary housing for the homeless before the World Cup, with the actual number falling short of 100.
Another embarrassing saga was her refusal to turn on security cameras before the World Cup games, even as some members of the city council had said they would be helpful to thwart terrorist attacks.
Wilson cited privacy concerns and fears that federal immigration agents might use the cameras to make arrests. She said she would only turn on the cameras if there was a credible security threat, never defining what that meant.
On June 5, ten days before the first game in Seattle, Wilson reversed course and ordered the cameras turned on, saying law enforcement officials had convinced her of their necessity.