Before joining The Agenda Project full‐time in 2010, Payne led the Tesseract Group, a boutique consulting firm that provided strategy and communications advice to select public policy and political organizations.

[1] Prior to founding the Agenda Project and the Tesseract Group, Payne co‐founded the Democracy Alliance, a donor collaborative whose partners have invested over $100 million in progressive organizations.

[2] The Agenda Project's stated goal is to "return normal Americans to the center of the policy debate by cultivating an understanding of public policy, facilitating common action, and connecting the best ideas and the strongest leaders with engaged citizens, elected officials, the media, political insiders, and experts through a variety of in-person and on-line platforms.

"[3] The Agenda Project is responsible for progressive campaigns such as F*ck Tea, Hate Begets Hate, Vote Sanity, and Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength, a petition to President Barack Obama from millionaires, who demand that the President let the Bush tax cuts expire for those who make $1 million or more,[4] where Payne commented that "Only 375,000 Americans have income over $1 million" and "You're asking a small number of people to recognize that our country is in part responsible for their prosperity.

Since Payne is the President of the Agenda Project, she is often interviewed by major news networks explaining the organization's recent campaigns.

I hardly think the President will restore our faith in government by fawning over the banks at the center of the financial crisis, oil companies like BP who destroyed the Gulf and insurance companies who secretly funneled $10 million through the Chamber to fight insurance reform,[13] In Payne's editorials on the Huffington Post she has written about hate crimes committed against Muslims,[14] as well as repeatedly pointing out and denouncing the ties between financial firms and Congressional staff, which she believes to be the most obvious sign of corruption in the American political system.