JULIA REED

INTERVIEW BY ROWAN SCHWARTZ

On the “A” Word: I think its important to acknowledge how proximity to whiteness impacts the way that I get treated compared to people who come from households with two black parents or people who are darker skinned than I am and to be aware and acknowledging and upfront about that privilege, which I don’t ask for, but is a part of the wonderful swim of inequities we all have to live in. Black elected officials, and I think that this is an experience we all say, we call it the A word. When people say, oh you’re so articulate. They mean it as a compliment. They mean it to say, we work in a profession that’s all about communication and you’re a good communicator. But it has this sort of special edge to it where you think, well, did you not expect me to be articulate? Like did you expect me to speak differently? Did you expect me to do something different? Do you only listen to me because I am speaking to you in the language and the vernacular that is the same as yours? It’s making you feel more comfortable to know that I am approaching you as one of the good ones, basically. And I think a lot of women have this feeling too. I am very much conscious of being one of the few black women in the legislature but also following in the footsteps of other black women who have been in the legislature fighting these fights before I even got there. I definitely have had experiences I think a lot of women in elected positions can probably empathize with. I have had people in the legislature be like, hey kiddo. And I don’t think that they would say that to another male legislator. So yes, I have experienced both racism and sexism head-on. But I decided to run because I felt like there was room for more voices like mine and my experience. And what’s been amazing is I was elected with a group of other first-time legislators, which is one of the most diverse group of New Democrats in the legislature that we’ve ever had, including many amazing women of color. We spend a lot of time at Olympia supporting each other, giving each other courage, backing each other up, and helping each other with our respective fights. That is so important. That we support and nourish and care for each other, because it’s a long journey, but I think about what a privilege it is to be able to be a part of this work, and I am so grateful to be able to be of service in this way. If we’re not in the room making the case that we are making to our colleagues, then there is no one else speaking from our perspective.

On All-Female Environments: Not only did I go to Smith College, but I also went to an all-girls high school. I spent my adolescence and early 20s in women-centered environments. I don’t see it as you are withdrawing from the quote-unquote real world and then you get out there and it’s tough. I think about how being in an environment that centers on women gives you an opportunity to live in a world where that is possible for four years. In a world where women are the norm and not the exception. I think some of the dislocation that you feel after you graduate and you’re working in institutions that are not centered on women in that same way you’re like, wait, why is it like this here? It doesn’t need to be like this. One of the ways in which white supremacy and patriarchy work into our brains is that it tells us that this is the natural order of things. This is the default. This is the way things are supposed to be and you can change it, but then you’re rebelling against the way things are. It teaches you to accept a world where white identities, male identities, become the default. And one of the things about getting into a different environment, whether that’s a historically black college or university or women’s college, is that it gives you a chance to experience a different default and to realize that you can actually have this functional world where other identities are seen as important. And you have the opportunity to say, well actually, it shouldn’t be this way. And I know it shouldn’t be this way because I have personally lived and experienced how it can be different. You don’t have to accept the default. You can define a different type of normal.  

CINDY S. PRICE

INTERVIEW BY MADELEINE BROUSSARD

CINDY S. PRICE, CHAMBERS COUNTY JUDGE

BARBERS HILL MIDDLE SCHOOL NORTH, MONT BELVIEU, TEXAS

On what motivates her to advocate for the community: I think so much of it stems from my childhood. I was born with my eyes crossed — I have an identical twin, hers too — we were nine months old when we were operated on to move our eyes apart so that we had the chance to see growing up, because those years and months are when you develop your vision. But growing up, we had weaker eyes than most, so we ended up wearing an eyepatch to school. And believe it or not, kids can be cruel at times and say mean things, whether they realize it’s hurtful or not. For me, I decided, I wanna be someone I can take care of when somebody’s being mean. I don’t like to use the term “bully”; I think people don’t understand what it means to just be openly critical. For me, it was gravitating towards that legal field, and learn how to communicate and talk to people, and stand up for what most people would call the “little guy”, or somebody that is not as fortunate, or doesn’t have the communication skills to present their case.

On what made her decide to apply for law school: I got married, right out of high school. Still married to the same guy, forty-eight years…It wasn’t a time or place. We moved here, Don [Judge Price’s husband] became the head coach here, two of our oldest went to college, and I thought, “Nobody’s gonna miss me but my two dogs, so I think I’m gonna finally apply for law school now,” and I got in!

On the intersections of her work as a lawyer and an educator: As Curriculum Director, I was actually tasked with helping the elementary schools with helping struggling students, Response to Intervention. Again, it’s that service attitude, of “What’s going to help make this child successful?” Again, that’s just a carryover from education to law…I didn’t want to just be an attorney and help select clients, I wanted to make a bigger impact for our community and serve our community in a larger way. I decided I can run for judge, and serve our community in a better way, and serve more people.

As a principal, I was a rule follower. I think community at large really wants that…The teachers had to defend themselves to me, if, say, they wanted to separate Language Arts into English and Reading, they have to defend it to me. If they can defend it, then I have the ability to defend it up the ladder. As a judge, it’s the same principle…They have to present their sides. I like the process. Defend your side, defend the other side, let me listen, and the overriding factor is always follow what you’re supposed to be doing.

Lawyers are trained to come up with arguments. As an educator, I’m trained to listen, but I’m also trained to look objectively at both sides to try to figure out the best for everybody. I’m not gonna be persuaded by who you are or who your parents are…It’s important to remain neutral at all times. You shouldn’t know how I’m going to rule. You should only know that I’m going to follow the law, period.

On the meaning of power: “Powerful”, to me, means you can dictate and run over [people], and I’m not that. I like to work collaboratively…The only powerful person I know can walk on water.

BEVERLY BURKS

INTERVIEW BY LENORA UPCHURCH

On Her Connection with Refuge Coffee: Well, actually, I remember when they first started. This used to be an auto sales place. In terms of Refuge Coffee before, it was just a food truck. And they were allowed to just be on the premises. Then, after a while, they were able to raise the funds to actually have this as one of their flagship locations. So the other piece for me is that I know the owner Kitti Murray quite well.

And next to [Refuge Coffee] is one of the murals that, as a council person, I was able to sponsor for our city, which has trees on it. Part of the trees have different languages and different meanings about what it means to be a part of this community. I've held many events here. I've done my trunk-or-treat here (what I do for the kids). I've participated in several events at this location. And so that is why it's so important for me and so symbolic for me because, again, it represents community.

On A Moment That Has Defined Her: I think going through my breast cancer was a defining moment for me. I actually found my tumor, and that's why I always encourage women to get mammograms. I went through it through the pandemic, so I actually had one of my surgeries two days before the pandemic hit, right? And so that was a defining moment for me because I wasn't mayor at the time, but I started helping our community by providing bags with masks and other educational materials on COVID. I ran for mayor during that time too. So I rang the bell in October, won the election in November, and I got sworn in on my birthday. That for me was a celebratory moment to say I am celebrating life and the life that I want to give to my community.

On A Women’s Issue She is Thinking About: So one of the issues that has come time and time again is maternal health. That's a big issue, especially for women of color, African-American women, and the disparity that many face in the medical field. Unfortunately, there are biases when it comes to how many women are treated. And understanding that we have to, not only as African-American women and women of color, be our own advocates, but it's important for other women, for white women, to also understand. Because by helping, it helps you, right? Then that frees up more resources for everyone to use, and it decreases the deaths. If you sit back and think about it, you're seeing women having complications and/or dying. That is a child without a mother. And that's a resource, in terms of additional resources, that if someone was more proactive, you wouldn't have to deal with all the issues on the other side (with not having that mother involved in that child's life).

So it's so important to make sure that, when it comes to issues like health and how women are given treatment, it is equity. It is important regardless of health, regardless of education. That [equity] is important if you expect anything to change and move forward. If there isn’t equity in how we balance things out, you will consistently have an inability for people to move forward.

LIZ GEORGE STUMP

INTERVIEW BY KAILEY MAYHOOD

On supporting each other: I went to go see The Barbie movie last night. It was such an interesting moment. In the 80’s I played with Barbies. And then fast-forward to being in my 20’s and early 30’s and thinking about how Barbie has had this horrific impact in the world and I can’t believe I played with these things. And then once I had a daughter, really having to grapple with do I let her play with Barbies. And then going to see the movie last night, it hit me that so much of these cultural icons we push into these boxes of all good or all bad. And we do that with ourselves. Either you’re really winning or you’re losing. It pushed me to kind of think about and examine, how do we find those moments, because most people we live in grey. And there’s good in most people, and there’s maybe some not so good. And so how do we find that spot to cultivate the good and reinforce the good, and strive towards the good. So it’s a very real in the moment, this is kind of what I’m thinking about. And what does that mean to be a woman. And it is all of those things of, there’s no one right spot that applies to everybody. And so how do we instead support each other as women in whatever that looks like for us and finding out who that is individually and locking arms to celebrate that in each other.

On a reason for running: I have been out talking to a lot of voters. And the sad, and frustrated, and sometimes just wildly infuriating part is how scared people are at the same point. We have all of these really amazing hopes and dreams for the future that I think we can make a reality. And at the same point one of the most common questions I get asked is, ‘So, how do you feel about banning books?’ And the fact that it is 2023, and I get asked that a lot, at least three times for every hour of canvassing that I do. It says something about this moment that my community is in. That we haven’t set clear boundaries on what our community values are, that the community understands and hears. Again, infuriating and sad and part of why I’m doing this. Because folks deserve to feel safe, that they’re not going to have to worry about access to knowledge and sorts of things like that. Those conversations are like the double-edged sword. These can be really amazing, but also very revealing of what we have to work on.

On the future: Part of campaigning means I get to go knock on doors and talk to a lot of voters and a lot of people in our community. And I’m actually really excited and that has brought a lot of joy for me. I come home super jazzed because as I talk to people in the community and hear what they want us to be and hear what they see their vision of the future of Upper Arlington and the state of Ohio and our country is, I think there’s actually a lot of people that want folks to feel safe, and want to keep improving on what we’ve got. And want to figure out how do we imagine a future where we can all be successful. And those are really beautiful things. I’m excited to have a part in shaping what that looks like and helping bring those dreams to life. 

ELIZABETH ORONA

INTERVIEW BY MOLLY MCNAMARA

On what inspired her to run for office: So I was inspired to run for office more by problem solving, a kind of exposure more than anything else. I wasn't really by design or a lifelong goal. I suppose in my I'm at a stage in my life where I’m ready to give back somehow, some way and searching for what that is and what that looks like. It was started out as a personal issue because our water rates were increasing in the city of Solvang and of course in California. We were in the middle of a drought. And I think UCLA did a study and I heard it on NPR that we had lost 6 million trees in one year in the state of California during the drought. So, you were always highly conscious of our water status in general as a Californian. But then it became personal when our our municipality was raising rates and I went to one or two city council meetings to articulate your protest, use your voice. And what I saw was alarming in the way the decision making was going and paying a little more attention to the political makeup or how the decisions were made and who was sitting in the decision making seats. It really felt skewed in a way that the council wasn't necessarily listening to the residents. So that was my personal experience. And and it wasn’t that my knee jerk reaction was to run for office. It was to learn more about why is the situation the way it is? Why are we paying so much for water relative to the other cities around us? And I got some eye opening learning experiences where the city was sued twice or I should say not sued, But we had two lawsuits over the the water rates and where we were getting our water from historically. And it put the city in a corner around how we were going to, you know, secure our water, keep it safe, keep it drinkable and meet all the environmental standards and still make it affordable for people to live here. And that was my main issue. In fact, that was the real reason that, when I realized some seats were up for election, that was the reason I decided to run for office.

On what she sees in the youth: I think about young people a lot. A combination of concerned and inspired. So I'm protective and I'm hopeful at the same time, if that makes sense. I haven't raised kids myself, but I helped raise a lot of kids. And what I see in the young generation coming is a level of brilliance that I honestly don't feel was around me when I was growing up. I something about this generation coming is so informed and maybe it's the Internet, maybe it's the ease of technology. Maybe it's the fact that they come with a world mindset. You know, just you guys are uniquely international for some reason. I am very aware that things like social media and issues like climate change, are there economic opportunities for youth coming—that gives you anxiety. So that concerns me. But the constant brilliance and your ability to articulate, you know, what you care about and really pinpoint what the issues are, and sometimes debate in very firm ways generationally, you know, closing that gap and what we need to be thinking about and caring about.

On valuing the opinions of the youth: I've made it a habit now when I have to make a decision or I know I'm making a decision on the dais to pick up the phone and call some of the young people I know. So I call regularly people that I know in the community who I think will have an opinion. You know, they'll make a choice call to somebody who's in that line of business or expertise or a lawyer. And then I will make a point now to call the young people that I know and getting to know and ask their opinion. I think it matters. Usually they're giving me something that no one else has given me to think about.

GINA-LOUISE SCIARRA

INTERVIEW BY MIA GALVAM

GINA-LOUISE SCIARRA, MAYOR OF NORTHAMPTON

SMITH COLLEGE BOTANIC GARDENS, NORTHAMPTON MASSACHUSETTS

Sexism as microaggression: Sexist behavior is a microaggression, and my office has adopted ways to deal with it. My chief of staff is a male. If we’re both at the table, questions are often directed to him. In response, he will pointedly turn his chair and look to me. My staff and I have found ways to send the message, but it's amazing how unaware people can be.

Recognizing it was time to run: When the former mayor announced he wasn't running again, I looked around and recognized that I was the most qualified person in Northampton, so it was my responsibility to run. I think that it's uncomfortable for women, in particular, to say such a thing. But it was true, and the people who ran against me had nothing on me.

On the importance of support: My husband is a remarkable support system for me. He has definitely believed in me in many ways that I haven't believed in myself. He'll be like, “yeah, of course that worked, because you're amazing at that.” He's made a lot of sacrifices for me to do what I do, and I feel fortunate that our family has had the flexibility. He works from home, but there are definitely things that he's done or opportunities that he hasn't taken so that I can do this job, which sometimes requires 24 hours a day. He keeps our family going and supports our girls. There are times when I can't be there, which is hard for me. I try to remember that I am being a role model for them. We have not created structures in this country that allow for equal access to positions of power and opportunity. A single parent couldn’t do this kind of work without a support system. It's really, really hard.

Initiatives and progress: There are three projects in the works that I am really excited about. We're doing a big Main Street redesign, which doesn't break ground until 2025, but there's a lot of decision-making that has to happen before. For me, one of my biggest concerns is figuring out how to support the businesses during the construction, which is going to be hard. It's a big responsibility but also very exciting. We’re making decisions that are going to change the landscape of downtown, not just for the present, but for the next 100 years. Our Main Street hasn't changed for over 100 years. I think people love it, and it's served us well, but how we use public space has changed, how we interact with automobiles has changed, what we want, how we do retail has drastically changed, and so we need to stay with the times and also think to the future. For me, one of my main interests is helping us meet our carbon-neutrality goals. So how do I set up Main Street as a climate-resilient place for the future? How do I keep it attractive, and how do I get people to want to be there? It's all really exciting but a little daunting, too.

The second project is just on the cusp of starting. The Division of Community Care came out of my decision to turn our city health department into Health and Human Services to acknowledge that we, particularly around the pandemic and the opioid crisis as well, were providing a lot more human services than local government traditionally does. Everything's felt at the local level, but initiatives are rarely funded there. So whether it's houselessness, or it's substance use, or it's mental health, they're all handled by state agencies. 

In tandem with that is the third project, The Resilience Hub. There's a Baptist Church next to Forbes Library that has been vacant for over 30 years. We recently bought it to serve as a day center for folks who are houseless or those in need of additional social services. It will have a soup kitchen, laundry services, showers, and be a climate-safe haven during extreme weather.

MAYOR SCIARRA OUTSIDE THE FUTURE RESILIENCE HUB

One of the concerns we saw during the pandemic was that folks no longer had access to the places normally available to them, such as the library or stores, suddenly they had nowhere to go. Most shelters are not open 24 hours, and so people are often on the street in the daylight hours.

The Resilience Hub offers shelter as well as services and amenities all in one place. Often, even as the Mayor, I can't figure out how to find time to make a doctor's appointment. If houseless, how does one manage to do those types of things? So, instead of sending someone here for food and there for shelter, constituents can go to just one place. We're going to aggregate everything into one space and bring the services to where people are, and additionally try and connect them to others. The Division of Community Care is actually going to be housed there as well. And, oh my, this building is gorgeous! It's absolutely stunning.

It's really important to me that this place conveys a sense of dignity. When people walk in, they should feel cared for and respected. By design, we chose a beautiful building located in the center of town, both for convenience to the populations it serves but also for message of worth in conveys.

JUDITH GARCĺA

JUDITH GARCĺA, MASSACHUSETTS STATE REPRESENTATIVE

11 SUFFOLK DISTRICT

BOSSON PARK, CHELSEA MASSACHUSETTS

On her journey through politics:  So when I think about my journey through politics, I've always centered all the issues, I don't see Politics as this career where it is driven only by the politics. For me it's a career that is driven by social issues and how do we work in community to solve those issues. So when I think about what has made me successful in this journey, I have been blessed to be elected again and again you know for many terms as a city council woman and now as a state representative. What has made me successful throughout this journey is the partnerships. It's really putting the voices of voters, constituents first and that has helped me be successful 

Advice for Gen Z Voters: My biggest advice is Gen Z voters is voting is just one piece of the pie. I think that if you're very passionate either be a single issue, either be women's rights, environmental issues, improving the infrastructure, more investment for youth development, whatever drives you and moves you. Identify a leader that really speaks to your values and help them, it's just not voting. Yes voting is what gets us here and gets us elected but I think that if you're very passionate make sure that you join that candidate’s campaign either by phone banking, by spreading the word on social media or helping door knock. I think that all those other key components are pivotal in terms of getting a person elected, someone that really represents your values. And if you can’t identify a person that represents your values then maybe you should run.

RITUJA INDAPURE

RITUJA INDAPURE, SAMMAMISH CITY COUNCIL MEMBER

SAMMAMISH LIBRARY, SAMMAMISH WASHINGTON

On why she ran: 2017 came where we had a big change in just the political climate of this country. That was also a time when I kept hearing: “Hey, we don't see people like you.” We know that representation does matter. So when they said somebody like me, they meant, you know, a brown woman, an immigrant woman, a mother. You just don't see that. For me, I was like okay, yeah. You know, somebody has to step up. I was looking around for who might step up and didn't see anybody, and so I was like, let me take that pledge. I raised my hand and I said, sure, I'll run for city council. First of all, it's my personal value to give back. And through this I could give back to my community through running for office. Secondly, I had really solid values and stances on which our policies on which I wanted to enact. I wanted to make sure the city is safe, that we have good transportation options, and that we take care of our environment. So, with those sort of values in mind and those policies in mind, I decided to run for office.

On work accomplished: I've been on the Women's Commission since 2018 and we have worked on many, many different policies as a commission. One of our first ones was to was to pass to pass legislation which required there to be 25% women on corporate boards. That had passed at that time only in California. And then you know, Washington State also had passed. We also created a model policy for sexual assault. If you have a very small company and you don't have the resources to hire a lawyer and create a formal sort of policy for your own handbook, you could just take our model policy and implement it. So we worked on that and since then, in the pandemic and even now, we continue to work for women and sort of advocate on their behalf with the state legislatures when the session is going on as well.

LUISA SANTOS

INTERVIEW BY CATHERINE DI MARE

LUISA SANTOS, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER, DISTRICT 9

On her place of Special Meaning: [Coral Reef Senior High School] represents everything that is right with our public schools. It was the place where I was setup for success, where I was taught to dream big, and even though I was an undocumented student, I was able to, with the support of the school and what it represents, become the youngest ever elected and the first formerly undocumented elected School Board Member for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. And it’s a pride and joy to do it every day.

On her decision to run for the School Board: I was an entrepreneur, I was running a successful business (Lulu’s Ice Cream), and I was having the time of my life hiring lots of incredible students that we would help with college admissions and financial literacy. It was great but, I was missing a more direct impact in education. And so I went to a School Board Meeting because I was on the board of a nonprofit. Part of what we did was go to the meetings and write minutes, basically summaries of what was discussed. I sat there and I thought, oh my goodness, students have not really been mentioned much, and this is the School Board Meeting. It was that day that a burning desire solidified within me. I realized that the School Board is a really important place for creating the environment that I was blessed to have. 

Advice for young women thinking of entering politics: Do it! That’s my advice. Do it! Don’t overthink it. The research shows that women have to be asked seven times to run for office before they actually seriously consider it, and that’s atrocious. That should not be the case. And this is similar to the advice I’d give when people would ask me what advice I had for young entrepreneurs. It’s do it. Do it. Get out of your head, focus on the strategic plan. What do you have to get done? How many signatures do you need? Then, just go for it because I can guarantee you that the majority of the people who are considering it and who are doing it have not thought nearly as thoroughly as you about why it is they’re doing it. Or even about the positive changes they’ll make when they get there. It is hard, I’m not going to say that it’s an easy thing, and you know, it is a sacrifice that people make. But it’s very much worth it.

Amanda Farías

INTERVIEW BY: JAHARRA ANGLIN STUBBS

Amanda Farias, New York City Council MEMBER, DISTRICT 18

On being a woman of color and its influence: “ Yeah, I mean, I grew up in a very, like, matriarchal household. So, it was really standard in my house to see women leading either in the workforce or as athletes, getting a higher education, being the breadwinners, managing the money, you know, even, like, putting up things in the house and building stuff.

I think that's definitely impacted how I view my own leadership ability, what I can or cannot do, what might be challenging, and how to persevere. So, I think it's been a massive part of my identity, and I think mostly it's, I've seen so many of the women in my life take big risks and either push through. The challenging or difficult parts of it, or be able to be successful in the risk that they took, and I think that's kind of how I've been a little bit of a risk taker and running for political office.”

Place of Special Meaning: Preston High School, Bronx, NY

Realizing her influence in her work: “I mean, the first thing that came to my mind is my first election, like, even though it was an unsuccessful election, and I came in second place. It was a long, arduous, like, 18 months, you know? Almost two years of me planning, doing outreach, fundraising, a whole bunch. Doing all these like small town halls and meetings to get my name out there and to get my platform out there, and the messaging, then being able to see that we came in a second-place like runner up to a 14-year elected official, and being able to see that we expanded the electorate.”

And, you know, that voter turnout was like, “oh, people are paying attention.” You know, people did not see all the efforts that I was doing and like toss it to the side. The work I did wasn't done in vain, and it really just showed me that the community. Even though there was like consistency in the same old, same old politics like people really desired change because they took a risk on me, and like other candidates that came after me that didn't win.

Like there was a group of people out there that were cognizant and paying attention to the change they wanted to see in the electoral process, which was like the counter-narrative that a lot of folks had at that time around the Bronx. So, I think that is probably my, like, the big moment that I realized I had to keep going and that the community itself was going to have my back so.”

Advice for PIP-sters

NELSIE YANG

INTERVIEW BY: SYLVIA COYLE

NELSIE YANG, ST. PAUL MN CITY COUNCIL MEMBER, WARD 6

On Being a Young Woman of Color in Office: …because it was scary to run for office as a young person and as a person of color. And at the time, I was not married either. So typically, we do see people who are in elected office having a partner or being married.

In my Hmong community, that's a big deal. Because typically, wherever I go, people will ask me, oh, you know, who's your husband? Are you married? And almost would use that as a way to value- okay, like, am I good enough to be in this role? Do I have the power that I need to be able to win this?

To me, that didn't matter. I knew that with my parents as my backbone with my family as my backbone, that was all I needed to really be able to say, yes, I can do this. And then I charged forward in building and expanding like that family. So that family, then, I invited friends, I invited neighbors to be a part of that family that I was building in our community.

And that was what we won with. We won it with that broad support we won through coalition building, we won through love, we won through abundance and operating in a place where we never felt like we as a committee were scarce at all in anything, but that we had so much to offer and that we have more than enough to thrive.

On Being a Mom on City Council: After becoming a mom, it has brought me even more clarity about the urgency in all the work that we are doing, and all the projects that we're working on and even just fighting for racial equity, gender justice, economic and climate justice, I feel like the urgency has raised so much for me, because I feel like I got to build a better world for my son, and for all the generations of people who are going to come after me, and I felt that even before but now, it's like, gosh, you know, it's like, even more real.

I also feel like after becoming a mom, it's taught me even more the importance of making sure that even the council role itself is sustainable. Right now, it's a part time position. But pretty much everyone's doing full time or more than part time. And so, one of the things I'm working towards is making sure that we remove the language around the council position being part time, and also making sure that, you know, we get a salary increase too, because the next wave of council members coming in next year are going to be young people, more women of color, more moms, more parents.

If we don't actually figure out how to make this work sustainable, then folks are going to get burnt out and not be able to stay in this role for a very long time. And to me, I feel like folks should never have to give up what they love just because they have decided to settle down or start a life or upstart marriage or start having children. I feel it's important for us to figure it out now so that we can set everyone up for success later on.

On Running for Office and Her Identity: I feel like my identity had so much to do with everything about my run for office, my decision to run too, and why I felt it was important to make sure that people who look like me, are young too, are in this line of work.

So, for one, I knew that being a young person running for office and a woman of color too, I was already going to experience so many barriers, because we live in a world that has always shut out folks who look like me from being at the decision-making table.

At the same time, that is also what drove me to do this, to run for office, and to make sure that I am at the table. And even if there isn't a chair for me, I pull it up and I create space not only for myself, but other folks from marginalized communities too. I believe that our world would be drastically different if we had more diversity at the table. And also, that we had leaders who would make sure that they champion working-class people in all of their work because working class people are the core of our communities.

And in order for everyone to be able to thrive, we got to work from the bottom up. And so, my identity has so much to do with, what I am doing today, and I am really passionate about making sure that more folks who share my same identities are at the table.

Jo Comerford

INTERVIEW BY: GRACE LEE

Jo Comerford, Massachusetts State Senator for Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester district

On her special place of meaning: It was an old school [building] and the community took it over and if you can believe it, it was much grungier in 1999 which is when I got there. It just [housed] all kinds of nonprofits…so it was just humming. The place used to just hum. And we all kept our doors open because [it was] stifling hot. Everybody was in and out, it was the place to be. The parking lot was full all the time. It was beautiful. I worked for the American Friendship Service Committee for seven and a half years or something and it was some of the best work I’ve ever done.

Her first political act: So my mom has a twin sister, her name is Joan. She was a sister of St. Joseph. And the sisters of St. Joseph weren’t your traditional nuns. They were organizers, they were radicals…they lived simply and they believed in the social justice teachings of the church not so much else about the church. Certainly not the patriarchy, not the hatred of LGBTQ+ folks. And it was this big, rambling convent. It was beyond cool…And my sister and I would go there for a long time.

Joan is at the heart of my story…[The nuns] faith was to help people. 

[The Nuns] were teachers, they were social workers, they were organizers…One day the doorbell rang and I remember racing my sister to the door, and I opened it up…and there was a woman. She was maybe, I have no idea, maybe 18, 19, 20. And she had two kids in her hands. And within seconds the nuns were around and the woman was moved in and my sister and I played and babysat her kids for a long time…And I remember hearing the woman cry, the young woman crying and later came to understand that she had just been dropped off on a corner nearby from Rikers Island, which is a prison in New York. And her mom was keeping her kids. 

On getting into politics and moving to Western, MA: I loved theater so much and I was doing okay as an actress but, I couldn’t do it as a business. So I went back to school to get a social work degree. That is not surprising given that aunt Joan was a social worker…I was an organizer and that’s when I got hooked up with this place called Justice Works Community, they were dealing with women in prison. And it brought me to Massachusetts. I was their national organizer and we did a campaign here in Northampton….eventually I moved here, I loved this place.