1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:15,200 Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Hello, 2 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: and welcome back to Work in Progress friends. Today we 3 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:21,520 Speaker 1: are joined by an old friend of the podcast who 4 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:25,480 Speaker 1: is absolutely one of the most inspiring humans that I know, 5 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,639 Speaker 1: none other than Shannon Watts, the founder of Mom's Demand Action, 6 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 1: which is the nation's largest grassroots group fighting against gun violence. 7 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: She has gathered over ten million women from disparate geographies, backgrounds, 8 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 1: political parties. She is known as a summoner of women's audacity, 9 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,720 Speaker 1: and she used Mom's Demand Action not only to fight 10 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:53,480 Speaker 1: for the future of our families and our children, but 11 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: also as a field experiment for mobilizing women. She has 12 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: figured out what fires us up up and keeps us engaged. 13 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:05,400 Speaker 1: And though she passed the baton of leadership at Mom's 14 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: Demand Action to another leader so she could take a 15 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 1: much deserved year off after working seven days a week, 16 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:14,559 Speaker 1: almost twenty four hours a day for eleven straight years 17 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: on this, did she take a sabbatical. No, she decided 18 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 1: to write a book. Shannon is here to discuss her 19 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:24,199 Speaker 1: new book, Fired Up, How to turn your Spark into 20 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: a flame and come Alive at any age. I can't 21 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:32,640 Speaker 1: wait to hear about the lessons that she's learned, the 22 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: gems that she's gleaned, and the way that she sees 23 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: women as a bonfire when they gather together, work for community, 24 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 1: and figure out what truly makes them happy. Let's dive 25 00:01:46,640 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: in with Shannon Watts. Hi, my dear, and welcome back 26 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: to the show. 27 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 2: I'm so thrilled to be here with you. 28 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 1: I'm just so excited we're here in person too. I 29 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: feel like you and I have to so often when 30 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: we want to be together figure out what city we're 31 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: going to overlap in during what month of the year, 32 00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: and so to get you, I want to squeeze you. 33 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 2: You're just far in a way that I can squeeze me. 34 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:21,920 Speaker 1: I will. I'll squeeze you again after we're done. I 35 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: know this is a really loaded question these days, But 36 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:25,680 Speaker 1: how are you? 37 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 2: It is a loaded question. You know, I'm good. I think, 38 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:35,359 Speaker 2: as the famous activist has said, Mariam Cambay, that hope 39 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:39,519 Speaker 2: it is a discipline that's always been my mindset, that 40 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:43,839 Speaker 2: it is very easy to be cynical and therefore disengaged. 41 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 2: If you actually practice hope, if you look around for 42 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 2: the things that are hopeful, yeah, then you can stay 43 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 2: engaged and you can take breaks, but come back to 44 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:56,440 Speaker 2: the work. And I think the next four years is 45 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 2: going to be a discipline, a practice. 46 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that. I think it's a thing I've 47 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:07,560 Speaker 1: been I don't want to say meditating on but really 48 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: thinking a lot about and trying to do so consciously 49 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: is what it means to hold so many things to 50 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: be true at the same time, especially when some of 51 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: those things feel oppositional to each other. Things are wonderful 52 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,880 Speaker 1: and terrible. There is joy, there is pain. You know 53 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 1: how you can be grateful for your own life inside 54 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: the four walls of your home and also really know 55 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 1: that the world around you needs help and figure out 56 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:40,800 Speaker 1: how to give to your point the hope, to both 57 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: the joy and the hurting. 58 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, joy, I think is a really important word. When 59 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 2: I started Moms to Be in Action, we came together 60 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 2: each year, all the volunteer leadership and it was a 61 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 2: weekend for training and lifting up the stories of survivors 62 00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 2: and talking about legislation. You know, it was tough stuff, 63 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:03,080 Speaker 2: and we decided to add a dance party at the 64 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 2: end of the weekend, and there was a lot of pushback, 65 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 2: particularly from non survivors, who said like, is this appropriate? 66 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:14,560 Speaker 2: Are we being unserious? It ended up being the most 67 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:17,239 Speaker 2: popular part of that weekend. The lights went off, people 68 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,360 Speaker 2: took up their shoes, they got all sweaty, they danced, 69 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 2: and they had joy. What is the point of activism 70 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:28,880 Speaker 2: or life without joy? And so to imagine that we're 71 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:30,680 Speaker 2: going to get through this next four years just bare 72 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 2: knuckling it and still be able to be activists and 73 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 2: it's just not possible. We have to look for joy 74 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:38,840 Speaker 2: and that comes in community, absolutely. 75 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:40,839 Speaker 1: And I think that the idea that you have to 76 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,800 Speaker 1: bare knuckle it or you're unseerious, particularly for women, is 77 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: such a vestige of patriarchy, you know, this thing that 78 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:53,839 Speaker 1: we're meant to suffer. It's why so many women get 79 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:57,159 Speaker 1: so burned out, yes, because we're told our joy makes 80 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:03,239 Speaker 1: us unseerious, unprofessional. And I love the way that, even 81 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: in this break that you've taken from Mom's demand, you know, 82 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:10,920 Speaker 1: you're stepping back from running the organization, you've really leaned 83 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: into your activism as a woman, having frank conversations about 84 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:23,160 Speaker 1: burnout and joy and aging and life. And it's been 85 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:27,280 Speaker 1: really beautiful to watch you put this sort of energy 86 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,360 Speaker 1: and specificity that you poured into an organization and out 87 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: into the world for so long into you, and then 88 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:36,119 Speaker 1: by seeing you do it, I think we all feel 89 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:37,280 Speaker 1: we have permission to do it. 90 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 2: That means a lot to me. I think what I 91 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 2: realized in creating Mom's dem in Action, which was not 92 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:49,360 Speaker 2: only the largest women led nonprofit in the nation with 93 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,560 Speaker 2: ten million supporters, but it also became the largest real 94 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 2: life laboratory for what empowers women, what makes them come alive. 95 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 2: I saw this over and over again, and you were 96 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 2: just talking about women and suffering. What I saw so 97 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 2: many times and even in my own life, is that 98 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:11,800 Speaker 2: women are taught to fulfill their obligations and men are 99 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:15,360 Speaker 2: taught to follow their desires. Yes, and what would our 100 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 2: lives be like if the only question we asked ourselves 101 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 2: was what do we want? 102 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:22,720 Speaker 1: I love that you said that, because it is the 103 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:27,680 Speaker 1: emotional version of what happens to women versus men around money. 104 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:32,479 Speaker 1: If men are taught to chase and fulfill their desires, 105 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: they are taught to seek and be poured in to 106 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,360 Speaker 1: pour into themselves. If women are taught to fulfill their obligations, 107 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: they're taught to give and give and give and give 108 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:45,320 Speaker 1: and give to others. And one of the things that 109 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 1: was the most arresting to me really starting to work 110 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: on gender equity in terms of finance, in terms of 111 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: access to capital. The work Nia and I do at 112 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:58,039 Speaker 1: the First Women's Bank is the data around how when 113 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:01,919 Speaker 1: women begin to accrue any version of personal wealth it 114 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:05,280 Speaker 1: can be five thousand dollars or five million dollars, they 115 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: are approached to become philanthropic donors. And when men begin 116 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:13,880 Speaker 1: accruing any version of personal wealth, they get approached to 117 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: invest it. So they get approached to go out and 118 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: fulfill and pour into and make more. And women are 119 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: asked to give and give and give and give and gift. 120 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 2: It's so interesting you bring this up because I talk 121 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:29,400 Speaker 2: about this, which is in many ways the bucket of 122 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 2: the passion tex Because women are passionate about something, because 123 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 2: they care about something, they're expected to do it for free. 124 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 2: I am guilty of this me too. I worked at 125 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 2: Mom's Demand Action. I say worked. I was a full 126 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 2: time volunteer for eleven years. I do not take a dime. Yeah, 127 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:48,880 Speaker 2: all the money I made from my book from speeches 128 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 2: all got funneled back into the organization. And I write 129 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 2: about this in the book that we're going to talk about. 130 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 2: And I thought I was being really noble, and maybe 131 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 2: I was actually being a martin. I thought I was 132 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:04,280 Speaker 2: a good girl for doing this, and that no one 133 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 2: could point a finger at me and say, oh, look 134 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:09,040 Speaker 2: at that woman. She's enriching herself because of you know, 135 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 2: gun violence or all the different reasons I had for 136 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 2: why I shouldn't take a salary, and yet all of 137 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 2: the other, mostly men, who were working in the organization 138 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:20,160 Speaker 2: did and it set an example for our volunteers, right 139 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:22,560 Speaker 2: chapter leaders. It's all volunteer work, and so I think 140 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 2: there's a really important conversation to be had about why 141 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 2: do we expect women to put their blood, sweat and 142 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 2: tears into things and not be compensated and that isn't 143 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:34,440 Speaker 2: the case for men. 144 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so surreal. You know, we talked about this 145 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 1: because you were one of my first guests in twenty nineteen, 146 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:44,200 Speaker 1: So thank you so much for having a longtime friend 147 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: of the podcast. I know that I asked you then 148 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:50,760 Speaker 1: what it would be like if you could spend some 149 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:53,920 Speaker 1: time with your younger self, if you would see yourself 150 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: in her, if you think she would be like I 151 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 1: get how I turned into that woman. What does it 152 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:05,200 Speaker 1: feel like now, you know, almost six years later, after 153 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:07,840 Speaker 1: you've been through so many life shifts, when you think 154 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 1: about maybe more than one of the younger versions of 155 00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 1: yourself that you carry with the woman you are today, 156 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:19,000 Speaker 1: what would have changed? What's the advice you might give 157 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:23,559 Speaker 1: yourself in college or yourself in middle school from this seat, 158 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: at this table, on this day. 159 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:28,480 Speaker 2: Oh, I love this question. So when we met for 160 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 2: this podcast, you know, five years ago, I was in 161 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:34,160 Speaker 2: a very different place. You know, I still had young 162 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:38,000 Speaker 2: kids or youngish kids who were teens, and I was 163 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:40,680 Speaker 2: kind of figuring out who I was as an activist 164 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:44,560 Speaker 2: and what was next. And here I am now, a 165 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:46,800 Speaker 2: fifty four year old woman who's gone through menopause, who 166 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:50,599 Speaker 2: has grown children. And what is really interesting to me 167 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 2: is that for I interviewed over seventy women for this book, 168 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:58,320 Speaker 2: and when I asked them what they were worried their deathbed, 169 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 2: regret would be almost all of them, maybe one or two, 170 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:07,559 Speaker 2: Almost all of them said to me, I will regret 171 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:10,600 Speaker 2: not having spent more time with my children while pursuing 172 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:15,200 Speaker 2: what was important to me, which is tragic because I 173 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:16,800 Speaker 2: don't think there is a man who would have the 174 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 2: same answer. And now that I'm on the other side 175 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 2: of that fifty four years old, my youngest is twenty four, 176 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:26,600 Speaker 2: I can promise you that my kids have not once 177 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:29,640 Speaker 2: said to me you missed the soccer game in two 178 00:10:29,679 --> 00:10:33,200 Speaker 2: thousand and two, or you didn't come to the fifth 179 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:36,280 Speaker 2: showing of my Peter Pan play. What they say is, 180 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:38,480 Speaker 2: we are so incredibly proud of you. We are so 181 00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 2: grateful you took us along on your activism journey. You 182 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:44,559 Speaker 2: gave us permission to pursue what is important to us. 183 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:48,160 Speaker 2: I think it's really important for women to remember that 184 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:51,959 Speaker 2: they are human beings before and after their children, and 185 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 2: that you don't want to get to the end of 186 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:56,000 Speaker 2: your life and feel like you didn't burn. You want 187 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:57,800 Speaker 2: to have lived a life that is fulfilling to you, 188 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:00,240 Speaker 2: and that doesn't make you a bad parent. And so 189 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 2: that's who I am right now, trying to tell all 190 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 2: the women who are worried about that, who are fulfilling 191 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:09,160 Speaker 2: their obligations instead of wondering what their desires are, that 192 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 2: you can do all of it. 193 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 1: And I think it's important to realize not only to 194 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:18,000 Speaker 1: you as an individual outside of your children, your marriage, 195 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:24,079 Speaker 1: your career deserve it, but that you model it for 196 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:27,280 Speaker 1: your kids. Yes, you know. Two of the most profound 197 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,439 Speaker 1: parenting lessons I've been given in the last few weeks. 198 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:34,920 Speaker 1: One was on this show and one was at our 199 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: home for Easter weekend with some friends. And the person 200 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:40,240 Speaker 1: who came on the show, what an insane sentence, like 201 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:43,280 Speaker 1: we've done some really cool stuff. You know you and 202 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:44,960 Speaker 1: I I know you have these things where you go. 203 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:46,680 Speaker 1: I can't believe what I'm about to say out loud. 204 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:52,360 Speaker 1: When Michelle Obama was on the show two weeks ago. 205 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 2: I would just open every show with that, right be like, just. 206 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:56,680 Speaker 1: Engage you missited she was here. She said something to 207 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:01,120 Speaker 1: me when I asked her about, you know, this empty 208 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:04,439 Speaker 1: nest phase which people talk about like it's a bad thing, 209 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:06,120 Speaker 1: And I'm like, you have like a freedom nest. 210 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:09,360 Speaker 2: You taught them to fly, they flew. What are you 211 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:10,880 Speaker 2: doing in your big nest? 212 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:13,520 Speaker 1: Now? You know, we're laughing about some things. And she 213 00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:16,920 Speaker 1: said that it would be really impossible to talk about 214 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:19,520 Speaker 1: the ways that she learned to mother without lessons from 215 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:22,520 Speaker 1: her own mother, and how her mother said to her 216 00:12:22,559 --> 00:12:27,080 Speaker 1: her whole life, I'm not raising babies, I'm raising adults 217 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:33,240 Speaker 1: and empowered her and her brother to feel like they 218 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:36,120 Speaker 1: could have agency, to feel like they were in control 219 00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 1: of things, you know, to learn lessons and know that 220 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:45,199 Speaker 1: they were pursuing their adult nests. And then my friend 221 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:48,800 Speaker 1: Genevieve this weekend said, the best thing you can do, 222 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:53,240 Speaker 1: especially for your daughters, is to live a full life 223 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 1: as a woman in front of them. Yes, And so 224 00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:58,120 Speaker 1: she was talking about her six year old and how 225 00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:00,800 Speaker 1: she makes sure she meditates some of her daughter. She 226 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: makes sure to move her body in front of her daughter. 227 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 1: She makes sure to go over her calendar for the 228 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:10,559 Speaker 1: day the night before in front of her daughter, so 229 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:14,560 Speaker 1: her daughter sees her having executive meetings, understands it. On 230 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:16,560 Speaker 1: a Tuesday night, she has a business dinner, but she'll 231 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:19,000 Speaker 1: see her when she gets home. And on Wednesday night 232 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: they'll be home together and they'll cook. And she talked 233 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:24,640 Speaker 1: about the balance because she wants her daughter to be 234 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:28,160 Speaker 1: able to do exactly what you're discussing and to always 235 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:30,200 Speaker 1: know that she can not to feel like she's starting 236 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:33,160 Speaker 1: to reclaim her time in her mid forties or in 237 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:36,600 Speaker 1: her mid fifties or in her mid sixties. Event, and 238 00:13:37,679 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 1: it's such a generational shift because, and I don't say 239 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: it critically, my mom made her whole life about me 240 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 1: and my life, and it was a really jarring transition 241 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:53,400 Speaker 1: for her to then have me leave to go to college. 242 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:56,319 Speaker 1: I was going off to learn something, and when I left, 243 00:13:56,360 --> 00:13:59,080 Speaker 1: she had to learn a whole new thing too. And 244 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:00,679 Speaker 1: we talk a lot of about out how in our 245 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:06,160 Speaker 1: adulthood together we found a different way of being. And 246 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:09,920 Speaker 1: I just, I don't know. I think it's really profound 247 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: what you're talking about and what you're helping encourage other 248 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 1: women to do, because maybe our generation gets to be 249 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:18,319 Speaker 1: the one that helps shift it for our kids. 250 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:21,440 Speaker 2: What you're talking about is leaving a legacy, and I 251 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:23,360 Speaker 2: don't think we ask women a lot what they want 252 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:25,240 Speaker 2: their legacy to be. We think of legacy as your 253 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:29,440 Speaker 2: name on a hospital or a huge endowment or a foundation, 254 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:32,560 Speaker 2: but it's not. It's simply knowing that you lived a 255 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:35,720 Speaker 2: life that is true to you. And what you're talking 256 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:40,000 Speaker 2: about is the second half of life, which my mother's 257 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,800 Speaker 2: generation was not expected to have. You turned forty forty five, 258 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 2: and you were sort of invisible, and you went off 259 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:48,000 Speaker 2: and did whatever until you know the end of your 260 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:51,200 Speaker 2: life that isn't true anymore. I'm fifty four. I feel 261 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:52,240 Speaker 2: like I'm just getting started. 262 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:55,320 Speaker 1: Well, also, look at your face. You have perfect skin, 263 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 1: enviable hair like and it goes back to that thing 264 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:01,920 Speaker 1: where women and are supposed to be serious or they're 265 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,280 Speaker 1: just girly. Yes, I'm like, no way, I'm coming in 266 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:07,760 Speaker 1: with the hair out and the outfit on. I know 267 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:11,520 Speaker 1: all the points of this policy. We're arguing, and we're 268 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:13,520 Speaker 1: going to go lobby in DC and figure out it. 269 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:16,520 Speaker 1: We can do it all. Yes, I just think we 270 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:21,560 Speaker 1: have to give ourselves permission to actually do what we want. 271 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 2: And to have the courage right and to ask yourself 272 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:28,320 Speaker 2: to check in regularly at all stages of your life. 273 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:31,440 Speaker 2: What am I doing? Is this fulfilling to me? Am 274 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:33,440 Speaker 2: I leaving anything on the table? You know? And I 275 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:34,960 Speaker 2: don't want to get to the end of my life 276 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 2: and feel like I haven't burned. I mean that's the 277 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:38,480 Speaker 2: whole That's the whole thing. 278 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:41,000 Speaker 1: Okay. So can I ask you, because you use that 279 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 1: phrase a lot and for people at home, what do 280 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:46,440 Speaker 1: you mean by burned? You want to feel like you 281 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:50,800 Speaker 1: haven't burned? Yes? How do you How did you select 282 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:53,320 Speaker 1: that word? And what's the ethos for you. 283 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:56,200 Speaker 2: So the metaphor for the book came up because I 284 00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:58,320 Speaker 2: was talking about I was at the home of an 285 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:01,120 Speaker 2: author who was helping me figure out my book after 286 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 2: Maria Striver made the generous offer of writing about what 287 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:05,440 Speaker 2: I'd learned about women, which is sort of you know 288 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 2: a lot. How do you boil that down? And this woman, 289 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:11,920 Speaker 2: this author, said to me, you're very fiery, like that 290 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 2: is your personality, that is who you are. And so 291 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:16,800 Speaker 2: fire became the metaphor of the book. And when I 292 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:19,640 Speaker 2: started to think about what is living on fire, it 293 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:23,120 Speaker 2: is it is the ability to see things clearly, two 294 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 2: specific things. What is limiting you and what is calling you? 295 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 2: And there is a very specific formula for that that 296 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:32,640 Speaker 2: I learned in my life, but that I saw women 297 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:35,160 Speaker 2: come into Mom's men action and replicate over and over 298 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:39,000 Speaker 2: and over again. And that is what are your abilities? 299 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:42,480 Speaker 2: What are your values? And what are your desires? Because 300 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:45,960 Speaker 2: when those three things come together, you are burning. You 301 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:49,680 Speaker 2: are creating a fire in your life. And your life 302 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:52,080 Speaker 2: is a series of fires. It's not just one thing. 303 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 2: It's not this. You know, sometimes we're sold this idea 304 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:56,080 Speaker 2: about purpose, as if we're only here for one thing, 305 00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:58,080 Speaker 2: and if we don't figure out what that is, we've somehow, 306 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:00,400 Speaker 2: you know, are not living a life that is true 307 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 2: to us. That's not true. You know, after Mom's de 308 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:06,440 Speaker 2: man action was over and for me, I stepped away 309 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:10,000 Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three, I thought, who am I without 310 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:13,119 Speaker 2: Mom's de man action? This has become my identity. And 311 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:17,320 Speaker 2: yet I started another fire. I wrote a book, I 312 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:20,200 Speaker 2: became a surrogate for Kamala Harris. You know, after this, 313 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:21,959 Speaker 2: there are more things that I want to do, and 314 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,199 Speaker 2: I will continue to implement that formula in order to 315 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:27,639 Speaker 2: make those things happen. And I want every woman to 316 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,000 Speaker 2: try this formula right now. Out in the zeitgeist, there's 317 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:34,480 Speaker 2: so much about what what are women in midlife doing? 318 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 2: What are older women doing? Not a lot of how 319 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:42,439 Speaker 2: I want to show women, how how do you get 320 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:44,360 Speaker 2: to where these other women are that you're learning about, 321 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 2: because you can do it too. 322 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:49,240 Speaker 1: I love that We'll be back in just a minute 323 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:58,440 Speaker 1: after a few words from our favorite sponsors. To your point, 324 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:02,600 Speaker 1: you know, I I think this idea, even when we 325 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:06,520 Speaker 1: talk about midlife, when we talk about older women, all 326 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:12,520 Speaker 1: of the terminology has been used to kind of shame us, 327 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:15,200 Speaker 1: even you know, you hear those things in society like, oh, well, 328 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:17,639 Speaker 1: men just get better looking with age and women just age, 329 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:20,120 Speaker 1: And it's like again, I look around at our group 330 00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:22,879 Speaker 1: of friends, I'm like, I actually think we've never looked better. 331 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:25,560 Speaker 1: I think I'm way cuter than I was in my twenties. 332 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,439 Speaker 1: Early odds fashion was very questionable and horrible. I had 333 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:32,800 Speaker 1: a very bad haircut. We are well also same Yeah 334 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:35,120 Speaker 1: those thank god there were no iPhones. Then those pictures 335 00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:39,720 Speaker 1: are buried and locked away forever. I overplucked my eyebrows 336 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:43,240 Speaker 1: for a while. I mean, just not good. And I'm 337 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:50,679 Speaker 1: excited about this fiery woman kind of iconography because what 338 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:56,600 Speaker 1: I've realized in doing this myself is we only grow 339 00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:59,800 Speaker 1: in power and purpose. And I think when you have 340 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:04,080 Speaker 1: the courage to reinvent yourself or to say I'm not 341 00:19:04,119 --> 00:19:06,159 Speaker 1: having a good time at this party, I'm leaving and 342 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:10,479 Speaker 1: I'm going to plan another, it can be so jarring 343 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:13,240 Speaker 1: for people because they're not used to seeing us choose ourselves. 344 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:16,639 Speaker 1: I experienced that going through a divorce. I've watched women 345 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:20,280 Speaker 1: other friends of mine experience it in that way. Leaving careers, 346 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:23,720 Speaker 1: changing careers, moving to another country, you know, whatever, it 347 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:29,879 Speaker 1: might be women choosing themselves seems like it freaks people out. 348 00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 1: So when you think about how you began to focus 349 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:38,440 Speaker 1: on this and I want to hear that Maria Shreve 350 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:41,440 Speaker 1: her phone call story. But how you began to say, Okay, 351 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:44,400 Speaker 1: I'm going to interview all these women about how they 352 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:50,080 Speaker 1: burst into flame in like the most beautiful way. How 353 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: did you even really know where to start or were 354 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:54,879 Speaker 1: you Also? Do you think the questions came from you 355 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:57,680 Speaker 1: saying I'm doing this and I want to know who 356 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 1: else is doing this? Sometimes from when I think I'm 357 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:04,320 Speaker 1: going to do something terrifying or requires so much courage, 358 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: it's really helpful for me to know other people doing it. Yes, 359 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:11,200 Speaker 1: like my best friend in the world and I literally 360 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:14,920 Speaker 1: got We got engaged and then married and then divorced 361 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:18,040 Speaker 1: in the same timeline together and we were like, wow, 362 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:19,840 Speaker 1: do we just learn lessons like the hard way? 363 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:21,880 Speaker 2: Or can we only do things together? 364 00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 1: Maybe we should have gone on a trip. 365 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:27,160 Speaker 2: Would have been so much cheaper than this life. 366 00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:31,800 Speaker 1: Lesson, you know, But there is something about having someone 367 00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:35,959 Speaker 1: you love model that kind of courage for you, you know, 368 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:39,800 Speaker 1: make legal recommendations for you, teach you how to go 369 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:42,960 Speaker 1: get a job, or have a baby, or whatever it is. 370 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:48,040 Speaker 1: So do you think the book came from you seeking 371 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:53,880 Speaker 1: out other women doing the next stage of life? Fire building? Oh? 372 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:56,399 Speaker 2: Absolutely, you know. I start with my story, and I 373 00:20:56,480 --> 00:21:00,159 Speaker 2: had this experience. I lived a very me life, I 374 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:04,200 Speaker 2: call it until I was in my forties because I 375 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 2: married right out of college. My parents were going through 376 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:09,040 Speaker 2: a horrible divorce, and so I think I was seeking 377 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:12,720 Speaker 2: out solace of my college boyfriend. I got pregnant three 378 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,080 Speaker 2: months later. I got pregnant three months after that baby 379 00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:16,879 Speaker 2: was born. By the time I was twenty nine, I 380 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:19,800 Speaker 2: had three children. I was married to someone I wouldn't 381 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:21,920 Speaker 2: have married had I waited until I was after thirty 382 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:25,040 Speaker 2: years old. I was in a job I didn't like. 383 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:27,119 Speaker 2: I wanted to be an investigative journalist and I was 384 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 2: doing public relations. And I found myself one day in 385 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:34,080 Speaker 2: the emergency room absolutely covered head to toe and ezema 386 00:21:34,119 --> 00:21:36,800 Speaker 2: in every orifice, on my eyelids, on my ears. I mean, 387 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:41,280 Speaker 2: They're horrific. I couldn't sleep, I was miserable. I was suffering. 388 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:44,359 Speaker 2: And I tell the story of being in that office 389 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:46,520 Speaker 2: and the doctor really connecting with me, and I just 390 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:49,800 Speaker 2: had a breakdown. And I realized I was at a crossroads. 391 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:50,240 Speaker 1: Right. 392 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:52,280 Speaker 2: I could look at my life and the mistakes I'd 393 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 2: made and make different choices going forward, or I could 394 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:58,320 Speaker 2: continue to live this life. And it wasn't easy to 395 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:01,480 Speaker 2: leave a marriage and leave my career and start all 396 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:05,320 Speaker 2: over again. And I'm so glad I did, because I 397 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:07,840 Speaker 2: would never have started Mom's de man action. I would 398 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,439 Speaker 2: never be where I am now. And so I wanted 399 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:13,680 Speaker 2: to talk to other women who had had those experiences. 400 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 2: And I tell so many stories because I think stories 401 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:18,760 Speaker 2: are the model to help other women do these things. 402 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:22,359 Speaker 2: And so I talked to one woman named Amber Goodwin 403 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:27,359 Speaker 2: who applied to law school almost two dozen right out 404 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,080 Speaker 2: of college, didn't get in. Then, when she was forty 405 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:33,240 Speaker 2: years old, after Donald Trump was elected, she decided, you know, 406 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:35,879 Speaker 2: if he can be president, I can become a lawyer. 407 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,679 Speaker 2: So she applied again in her forties, got in, and 408 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:40,919 Speaker 2: ended up being the president of her law school and 409 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:43,480 Speaker 2: now is working to get other women of color into 410 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:46,280 Speaker 2: law schools all over the country. I talked to a 411 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:50,119 Speaker 2: woman who wanted to be an author. Because of her 412 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:52,520 Speaker 2: financial circumstances, she took a job as a gym teacher. 413 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:56,399 Speaker 2: Did that for thirty years, retired, started volunteering at an 414 00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:59,000 Speaker 2: animal shelter, came up with this idea in her head 415 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:00,800 Speaker 2: of a love story between two people who meet at 416 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 2: the shelter. Taught herself how to write dialogue, how to 417 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 2: create a book, wrote a book, and then decided she 418 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:09,680 Speaker 2: deserved to have it published. She sent it to two 419 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:12,560 Speaker 2: hundred and eighteen publishing houses and got rejected every time. 420 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:14,640 Speaker 2: On the two hundred and nineteenth she got a two 421 00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:18,560 Speaker 2: book deal and became a published author in her seventies. Wow, 422 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,280 Speaker 2: so that's what I wanted to convey to other women. 423 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:25,680 Speaker 2: It's never too late. You're not too old. You have 424 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:28,120 Speaker 2: something important to offer, no matter what age you are, 425 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:30,840 Speaker 2: no matter what stage of life, if you pursue it. 426 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:35,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that. Did you see that that talk 427 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,280 Speaker 1: that went sort of viral online? I feel like we 428 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,000 Speaker 1: have similar algorithms, so maybe you saw it as well. 429 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:43,240 Speaker 1: Of a professor, we'll have to do a little research 430 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:45,200 Speaker 1: and put it in the show notes. He gave a 431 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:49,480 Speaker 1: talk at a university. I think he's a I don't 432 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:53,320 Speaker 1: know if he's a biology teacher, essentially asking the question, 433 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: what are women in their third in their last third 434 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:02,480 Speaker 1: of life? Four, and you know, the class kind of 435 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:05,080 Speaker 1: gets like and you hear the murmurs, and he says, 436 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:06,320 Speaker 1: and I don't mean that in the way that you 437 00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:08,800 Speaker 1: think he said, but you know, men can be fathers 438 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 1: into their eighties. No one judges them when they do that, 439 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:13,600 Speaker 1: by the way, but God forbid a woman in her 440 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:18,040 Speaker 1: forties as a kid. That's verse every day. But he 441 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:20,680 Speaker 1: was saying, you know, women, once you go through men 442 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:25,200 Speaker 1: a pause, you cease being able to birth a child. 443 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:31,359 Speaker 1: So societally, what are women for? And he says, you know, 444 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: we outlive men almost always and by quite a long time. 445 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:40,159 Speaker 1: And essentially a long story longer I'll try to paraphrase, 446 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:45,320 Speaker 1: is that he pausits that women, as they enter the 447 00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:48,800 Speaker 1: grandmother stage, whether that's you have grandchildren or you are 448 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:52,960 Speaker 1: a grandmother, in society, that we are the ones who 449 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,320 Speaker 1: are the wisdom givers. Yes, we are actually the teachers. 450 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:00,320 Speaker 1: And I thought about it for weeks after I watch 451 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:04,080 Speaker 1: this talk, because I thought, oh, women have actually been 452 00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:07,600 Speaker 1: taught that our only value, our biggest value in society 453 00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:15,040 Speaker 1: is motherhood. But actually, essentially men's only value, add is 454 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:18,600 Speaker 1: fatherhood and they can do it forever. We literally have 455 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: a third of our lives where that is not our value, 456 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:24,600 Speaker 1: where we serve a greater purpose. And when he started 457 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:28,520 Speaker 1: to talk about us being the wisdom givers, the teachers, 458 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:33,040 Speaker 1: the ones who continue to shepherd's society, I was like, Oh, 459 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:38,000 Speaker 1: we've inverted our roles. There's a reason that women have been, 460 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:40,800 Speaker 1: you know, removed from so many of the holy books 461 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 1: around the world. Right, It's that they're scared of our power. Yes, 462 00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:47,720 Speaker 1: the divine veeminine there used to be the goddess for 463 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:51,160 Speaker 1: the God and they've tried to, you know, really reduce us. 464 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:55,960 Speaker 1: And it makes me feel like we're finally getting back 465 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:59,840 Speaker 1: to something as I look around at all my friends 466 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:03,199 Speaker 1: their forties to their seventies doing what you're talking about, 467 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:07,200 Speaker 1: because I actually look at women as the ones who 468 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:09,880 Speaker 1: hold the most power and the greatest ideas, and who 469 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:17,919 Speaker 1: teach the most generously and to pursue a book, a 470 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:22,760 Speaker 1: second career. Whatever it is you love feeds you as well. 471 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:26,400 Speaker 1: So I think it shifts that give give give versus take, take, take, 472 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:30,720 Speaker 1: and it actually creates a healthier cycle, something more natural 473 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:34,280 Speaker 1: that moves, you know, in and out, ebb and flow 474 00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:39,320 Speaker 1: all the time. Do you feel like you've got your 475 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:43,040 Speaker 1: personal ebb and flow in a place where you love it. 476 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:46,200 Speaker 2: I do right now, I do, But I want to 477 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 2: be clear like it does ebb and flow. Yeah, you're 478 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:52,160 Speaker 2: going to have ups and downs. Yeah, that doesn't mean 479 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:53,200 Speaker 2: you should back down. 480 00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:53,520 Speaker 1: Right. 481 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:55,679 Speaker 2: I made a choice when I started Mom'stuman Action and 482 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:58,360 Speaker 2: I started receiving all these threats that I didn't expect. 483 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:00,720 Speaker 2: You know, I had to back down or double down, 484 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:03,560 Speaker 2: and I decided to double down. And you know, I 485 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:05,879 Speaker 2: had someone say to me when I was writing this book, 486 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,960 Speaker 2: I wish I had had a handbook for all the 487 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,280 Speaker 2: blowback that I will receive. It doesn't mean you're starting 488 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:15,080 Speaker 2: a huge thing like an organization. It may be just 489 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:18,160 Speaker 2: a difficult conversation. Maybe you're getting out of a relationship, 490 00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:22,639 Speaker 2: maybe you're pursuing another job. It can be personal, political, professional. 491 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:25,959 Speaker 2: But if you apply this formula and if you know 492 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:29,000 Speaker 2: what to expect, you know that you will feel imposter syndrome, 493 00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:31,919 Speaker 2: that your perfectionism will get in the way, that you 494 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:33,719 Speaker 2: will start to think people don't want to hear your 495 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:36,400 Speaker 2: story or you don't have a story to tell. If 496 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:38,600 Speaker 2: you know there will be a messy middle, then you 497 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:41,600 Speaker 2: can get through it. And that is what this is really, 498 00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:42,560 Speaker 2: you know, a guide for that. 499 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:45,000 Speaker 1: Wow, messy middle. 500 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:47,920 Speaker 2: Messy middle can be brutal. It's hard, but you learn 501 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:49,120 Speaker 2: so much there you do. 502 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 1: But I think you're right. A guidebook would have been helpful. 503 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:56,000 Speaker 1: You know, we bonded and became friends in activism. Yeah, 504 00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:59,719 Speaker 1: I was not prepared either for not only how much 505 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:02,760 Speaker 1: the world hates an outspoken woman, a politically educated woman. 506 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:08,560 Speaker 1: Oh God, here we go. And you know, nobody tells 507 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,000 Speaker 1: you how to deal with the threats. Nobody tells you 508 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:14,400 Speaker 1: how to deal with you know, the blowback. And it's 509 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:18,480 Speaker 1: not lost on me that I think as an observer, 510 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:21,280 Speaker 1: you can tell me if it's correct. I think part 511 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:24,640 Speaker 1: of the reason so many people were so incensed by 512 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:28,480 Speaker 1: Mom's demand is that it was so nonpartisan. You got 513 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:33,280 Speaker 1: so many people who have been cultured or encouraged or 514 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:37,880 Speaker 1: algorithmically targeted to fight a culture war, a red versus blue, 515 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: a left versus right, YadA, YadA, YadA. You got them 516 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:44,280 Speaker 1: all to say, oh, yeah, every country in the world 517 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:47,719 Speaker 1: has mental health issues. Every country in the world on 518 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 1: par with ours, has access to the same video games. 519 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:53,960 Speaker 1: Everywhere is basically the same. When you are in a 520 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:58,080 Speaker 1: similar country of you know, population and economic means and 521 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:00,720 Speaker 1: all the things. The only difference here is the access 522 00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:04,280 Speaker 1: to the guns. It's the guns, It's not anything else. 523 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:06,200 Speaker 1: And I say, this is a kid who got her 524 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:09,480 Speaker 1: first gun for her twelfth birthday. You know, people are 525 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,120 Speaker 1: always very shocked when they find out that, like they're 526 00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:15,000 Speaker 1: liberal Hollywood blah blah blah. Person they want to scream 527 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:17,720 Speaker 1: about is like actually a sharpshooter. Yeah, we can mean 528 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:23,840 Speaker 1: many things, guys. It's the guns. Yes. And when you 529 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:29,320 Speaker 1: had moms from San Francisco to Oakland, to Texas to 530 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:35,400 Speaker 1: New Mexico to Florida to Northern Vermont rallying together, I 531 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,239 Speaker 1: think you really scared a lot of people because they 532 00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:43,280 Speaker 1: knew that the truth was more powerful than the pr Oh, 533 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,520 Speaker 1: the facts are more powerful than any money the gun 534 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:51,360 Speaker 1: lobby spends. And you can't unsee something once you know it. 535 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:58,240 Speaker 1: And yet we find ourselves back here in this dystopian 536 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:05,360 Speaker 1: Trump two point oh Land, How I know you took 537 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:08,080 Speaker 1: a break which you deserved. You know, you did the 538 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 1: most wonderful thing that I think women do, which is 539 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:13,320 Speaker 1: they build power and then share it. You say, I'm 540 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:15,240 Speaker 1: going to run Mom's demand until the day I die 541 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:20,280 Speaker 1: because it's fine, you pass the baton, but from outside, 542 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:23,840 Speaker 1: still having built it and being so close to it, 543 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:27,520 Speaker 1: how do you? How do you want to speak to 544 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:32,960 Speaker 1: those women about what we do now? Because it feels 545 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,520 Speaker 1: like it for all this progress we've made, the people 546 00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:39,760 Speaker 1: with the most money who want the progress for themselves 547 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:43,320 Speaker 1: and not for any of us, are winning in this moment, 548 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:45,440 Speaker 1: and they're just they're lighting everything on fire, and not 549 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:47,080 Speaker 1: in a good way, not in a fired up way, 550 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:52,120 Speaker 1: in like I've burdened all burnt, all down, nightmare kind 551 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:55,840 Speaker 1: of way. So what do you if you were still 552 00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:57,600 Speaker 1: at the home of Mom's demand, or if you were 553 00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:59,280 Speaker 1: just going to talk to us I don't know on 554 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:01,960 Speaker 1: Instagram on Saturday morning, like what would you? What do 555 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,479 Speaker 1: you want to say to the women who go? But Shannon, 556 00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:06,880 Speaker 1: what do we do now? You know? 557 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:09,560 Speaker 2: I knew intuitively the day after the santy Hook School 558 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:14,400 Speaker 2: shooting that women were the secret sauce to taking on 559 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:17,480 Speaker 2: the largest, most powerful, wealthy special interests that's ever existed, 560 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:21,600 Speaker 2: right the gun lobby. And I simply put out a 561 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 2: plea on Facebook that women come together like they did 562 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 2: through Mothers against Drunk Driving, which was so incredibly influential 563 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:31,040 Speaker 2: to me as a teen in the eighties. They made 564 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:35,600 Speaker 2: unbelievable progress in under a decade. So I thought, okay, 565 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:37,240 Speaker 2: we need women to take on the gun lobby. And 566 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:40,240 Speaker 2: I was right. This was the gun lobby's worst nightmare, 567 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:43,280 Speaker 2: that women would rise up against them to protect their 568 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:46,480 Speaker 2: children in their communities because women are so powerful. Yes, 569 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:48,840 Speaker 2: we only hold twenty five percent of the five hundred 570 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:51,680 Speaker 2: thousand elected positions in this country. We are less than 571 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:54,680 Speaker 2: five percent of fortunate one thousand CEOs, so we're not 572 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:58,000 Speaker 2: pulling the levers of power that really make the policies 573 00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:01,480 Speaker 2: that protect our families and communities. But we're the majority 574 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:04,400 Speaker 2: of the voting population and we can use our voices. 575 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:09,080 Speaker 2: So when you combine voices and votes, we're unstoppable. And 576 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:12,960 Speaker 2: so that is why when millions of women began to 577 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:15,920 Speaker 2: show up in their state houses, in their city councils, 578 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:19,880 Speaker 2: even at Congress, we went from a corp of all 579 00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:21,920 Speaker 2: Democrats in Congress having an A rating from the NA 580 00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:26,160 Speaker 2: to none. Now it's a seismic shift in American politics. 581 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:29,120 Speaker 2: It's how we passed the first federal gun safety legislation 582 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:33,479 Speaker 2: in twenty two in a generation and that is a 583 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:36,040 Speaker 2: formula just like living on fire, right, that is the 584 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:41,080 Speaker 2: formula for successful activism. Women have immense power when we 585 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:43,040 Speaker 2: come together in community. And I talk about this in 586 00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:45,400 Speaker 2: the book is building a bonfire? You know, you take 587 00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:47,120 Speaker 2: your flame and you put it with other women's and 588 00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:51,320 Speaker 2: it just becomes this huge, unstoppable fire that you know, 589 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:54,200 Speaker 2: shows you what you want to do, but also shows 590 00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:56,719 Speaker 2: you the people you want to do it with. And 591 00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:58,960 Speaker 2: that is what Moms to Men action became. And so 592 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:02,160 Speaker 2: I think in this moment, it is so we're all 593 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:05,280 Speaker 2: talking about community. It is so important to find your community. 594 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:08,360 Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be gun safety activism, it doesn't 595 00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:11,680 Speaker 2: even have to be activism, but find your community and 596 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:14,160 Speaker 2: find your strength because that is what we need to 597 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:17,720 Speaker 2: get us through the next four years. And I will 598 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:21,760 Speaker 2: just say that as an Emerge America board member, this 599 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:24,600 Speaker 2: is an organization that trains women to run profice. I 600 00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:27,000 Speaker 2: think there's a moral imperative for women to run profice 601 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:29,400 Speaker 2: in this country. Yes, I don't care if it's county corner, 602 00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:33,280 Speaker 2: I don't care if it's city's sheriff. It can be 603 00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:38,760 Speaker 2: a very small elected officials office. But if we are 604 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:41,160 Speaker 2: able to do it. We need to do it because 605 00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:44,480 Speaker 2: only having twenty five percent of the elected positions. You know, 606 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:45,720 Speaker 2: the saying is when you don't have a seat at 607 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:48,400 Speaker 2: the table, you're probably on the menu. Many women right 608 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:49,880 Speaker 2: now in this country are the main course. 609 00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:53,080 Speaker 1: Yes, and now a word from our sponsors that I 610 00:33:53,160 --> 00:34:02,480 Speaker 1: really enjoy and I think you will too. Well. I 611 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:06,640 Speaker 1: saw a statistic today. The administration is saying they want 612 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:10,280 Speaker 1: to give baby bonuses, they want more children born in America. 613 00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:12,120 Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh, you mean you want to give 614 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:16,000 Speaker 1: families a baby bonus that's over one thousand dollars less 615 00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:18,960 Speaker 1: than the child tax credit that you're party killed that 616 00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:22,160 Speaker 1: lifted fifty percent of all families in poverty out of poverty. Interesting, 617 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:24,360 Speaker 1: So you want women to have more babies in a 618 00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:27,920 Speaker 1: country where you are making it impossible to access maternal healthcare, 619 00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:32,480 Speaker 1: where you're defunding cancer research for children, where you are 620 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:35,279 Speaker 1: trying to take away women's rights to IVF so if 621 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:37,640 Speaker 1: they actually want to have children, they can't. And the 622 00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:40,640 Speaker 1: list just goes on. You're defunding education, You want everybody 623 00:34:40,640 --> 00:34:44,279 Speaker 1: to have guns. Why do you think people maybe are 624 00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:49,239 Speaker 1: scared to bring children into this world? Weird? It's so 625 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,920 Speaker 1: crazy making. And I think it's why it's so important 626 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:56,120 Speaker 1: what you're putting in the book and also what you're 627 00:34:56,200 --> 00:35:00,880 Speaker 1: reminding us out in the world is to see and 628 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:05,760 Speaker 1: identify the problem and then congregate in community to figure 629 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:08,480 Speaker 1: out how to fix it. And you are right. One 630 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:11,279 Speaker 1: of the ways we have to fix it is by 631 00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:15,279 Speaker 1: taking those seats women running for office, whether it's you know, 632 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:18,640 Speaker 1: Emerge America or Emily's List or any of these groups 633 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:23,680 Speaker 1: that is helping she should run. Yes, helping run for something. Oh, 634 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:28,000 Speaker 1: that really feels like a shift that has been a 635 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:32,680 Speaker 1: long time coming from your vantage point. Do you see 636 00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:36,359 Speaker 1: more women in your peer group? You know, women whose 637 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:39,960 Speaker 1: kids are off in college and so they're beginning to 638 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:43,680 Speaker 1: reclaim more of their daily time. Do you see more 639 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:46,319 Speaker 1: women talking about it, thinking about it, gearing up for it? 640 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:50,320 Speaker 2: I do? You know? Women don't not live on fire 641 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,080 Speaker 2: because they're weak. It's because they're wise. They see the 642 00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:56,359 Speaker 2: system is set up for them to fail and the 643 00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:59,600 Speaker 2: only way to fix that is to find the courage 644 00:35:59,719 --> 00:36:02,000 Speaker 2: to step out into the arena. And you know this 645 00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:04,000 Speaker 2: formula I was talking about your abilities, your values, and 646 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 2: your desires. That is different for every single person. My 647 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:10,600 Speaker 2: abilities were my communication skills. I had been in comms 648 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:13,160 Speaker 2: for almost twenty years before I started Mom's Demand Action. 649 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:17,040 Speaker 2: My values were protecting my family and my community, and 650 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,600 Speaker 2: my desire was to be an activist. I had grown 651 00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:21,840 Speaker 2: up in Rochester, New York, where I was taught that 652 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:24,239 Speaker 2: people I carry at Tubman and Susan b. Anthony and 653 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:25,960 Speaker 2: I think she's been canceled now. But like all these 654 00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:30,920 Speaker 2: different activists right who sort of were women at the forefront, 655 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:34,520 Speaker 2: and each one of us has that different recipe, the 656 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:36,160 Speaker 2: different formula that will come into play. 657 00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:36,360 Speaker 1: You know. 658 00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:38,640 Speaker 2: I've seen women come into Mom's de Maan Action and 659 00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:40,839 Speaker 2: they decided to be a data lead because maybe they 660 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:44,359 Speaker 2: were an accountant in their professional life, and they come 661 00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:47,080 Speaker 2: into the organization and they're surrounded by other supportive women 662 00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:49,440 Speaker 2: and they think, wow, I'm really good at being a 663 00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:52,120 Speaker 2: data lead. I'm really doing a great job at this. 664 00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:54,200 Speaker 2: Maybe I'll try to be the chapter leader. And then 665 00:36:54,239 --> 00:36:57,759 Speaker 2: they become the chapter leader and they say, wow, you know, 666 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:01,799 Speaker 2: I'm really smart and I'm getting people to feel good 667 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:05,560 Speaker 2: about themselves and to make progress. Maybe I will run 668 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:08,560 Speaker 2: for city council and they do and they win, and 669 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:11,440 Speaker 2: it is just really those it's like taking the next 670 00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:13,040 Speaker 2: buyery step over and over again. 671 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:19,400 Speaker 1: Yeah. So, coming into writing the book, you dropped this 672 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:23,760 Speaker 1: gem earlier that you got a phone call from Maria Shriver? 673 00:37:25,719 --> 00:37:27,440 Speaker 1: Did you have a book in the works, and she 674 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:31,399 Speaker 1: heard about it? What happened? Tell me that story, because 675 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:32,720 Speaker 1: that feels very cool. 676 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:34,560 Speaker 2: I had just step back from Moms to Man Action, 677 00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:35,839 Speaker 2: and I thought, Okay, I'm going to take a year 678 00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:38,960 Speaker 2: off figure out what's next. You know, I'd been working 679 00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:40,920 Speaker 2: seven days a week as a full time volunteer for 680 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:45,279 Speaker 2: over a decade and Maria Shriver had DMed me out 681 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:46,799 Speaker 2: of the blue on Instagram and said, can I have 682 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:48,759 Speaker 2: your phone number? And you know, this was a few 683 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:50,799 Speaker 2: weeks went by. I'm running on the treadmill and I 684 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:52,360 Speaker 2: looked down on my phone and it says Maria Shriver, 685 00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:56,400 Speaker 2: And obviously I get off the treadmill and answer the phone, 686 00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:59,160 Speaker 2: and she says, you know, I so admire your voice. 687 00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:00,920 Speaker 2: I think you have a lot to tell women. I 688 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:03,839 Speaker 2: have a book imprint called Open Field. Would you write 689 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:05,719 Speaker 2: a book for me? Which you know is a very 690 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:09,840 Speaker 2: big question, like you can write about whatever you want? 691 00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:13,239 Speaker 2: And I said yes. You know I could have said no. 692 00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:15,680 Speaker 2: I could have said I'm not the right person, I'm 693 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:19,319 Speaker 2: not an author, I'm not I don't have anything to tell. 694 00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:21,880 Speaker 2: But I knew that wasn't true, you know. I knew 695 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:24,600 Speaker 2: that I did have something to say to women that 696 00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:27,000 Speaker 2: I had learned so much through my leadership of Moms 697 00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:29,600 Speaker 2: U Man Action, and then I wanted to empower other women, 698 00:38:29,719 --> 00:38:33,440 Speaker 2: especially women my age, to keep doing things till their end, 699 00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:36,160 Speaker 2: till the end of their life. And so I said yes. 700 00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:40,200 Speaker 2: And I had written a book before, but I had 701 00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:42,480 Speaker 2: written it with a co author, and it was very 702 00:38:42,560 --> 00:38:45,400 Speaker 2: fact based about gun violence. This was something different. This 703 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:48,080 Speaker 2: was my story and the stories of other women. And 704 00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:50,279 Speaker 2: I'm not going to say it wasn't hard. You know. 705 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:52,080 Speaker 2: There were days when I thought, why did I take 706 00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:57,319 Speaker 2: this on? Why am I not on vacation? What if 707 00:38:57,320 --> 00:38:59,680 Speaker 2: this isn't good? What if people don't like it? And 708 00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:03,360 Speaker 2: I had to push through all those feelings, all these stories, 709 00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:06,200 Speaker 2: these narratives that I was making up and telling myself. 710 00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:09,680 Speaker 2: And I've gotten such incredible feedback. I mean, the poet 711 00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:12,160 Speaker 2: Maggie Smith blurbed this book and she was reading it 712 00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:13,799 Speaker 2: and she would email me and say, I wish I 713 00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:17,000 Speaker 2: had had this book when I was getting divorced. So 714 00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:21,239 Speaker 2: many women who I admire have supported the book, are 715 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:24,640 Speaker 2: supporting the book, women like you, and I'm just so 716 00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:27,360 Speaker 2: glad I said yes to Maurice Shriver, a perfect stranger 717 00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:30,120 Speaker 2: who has become a friend and is interviewed in the book. 718 00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:34,600 Speaker 1: That's so cool. That's just so cool. Something that you've 719 00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:38,160 Speaker 1: also talked about, which I really cherish because it's been 720 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:42,640 Speaker 1: my journey as well, seems common in our kind of 721 00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:49,239 Speaker 1: overlapping generation. You've opened up a lot about your struggle 722 00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:53,440 Speaker 1: with untreated ADHD getting diagnosed later in life. You and 723 00:39:53,480 --> 00:40:01,080 Speaker 1: me both sister, and in one way, I feel so 724 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:05,239 Speaker 1: relieved to understand that some of what is hard for 725 00:40:05,280 --> 00:40:08,160 Speaker 1: me is not a personal failing. It's literally how my 726 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:12,440 Speaker 1: brain is wired. It also is probably part of the 727 00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:16,120 Speaker 1: reason I can go through policies so quickly, because I 728 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:19,040 Speaker 1: have a weird memory for that kind of stuff. Don't 729 00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:22,960 Speaker 1: ask me what day it is, anytime, any anywhere. What 730 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:26,520 Speaker 1: was the kind of push pull, the relief and the 731 00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:32,239 Speaker 1: Oh I wish I'd understood this earlier for you. 732 00:40:32,239 --> 00:40:34,799 Speaker 2: You know what's interesting is I was a speaker at 733 00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:37,719 Speaker 2: a conference a couple of weeks ago in Orlando, and 734 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:39,960 Speaker 2: I was asked by the moderator, what did you learn 735 00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:43,439 Speaker 2: while interviewing women for this book? And I said over 736 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:47,960 Speaker 2: a third of them had ADHD, either undiagnosed or late 737 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:50,240 Speaker 2: in life diagnosed, and that it was the secret sauce 738 00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:52,600 Speaker 2: for becoming who they are. Now do you know that 739 00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:54,759 Speaker 2: the entire audience began to cheer and some of the 740 00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:58,840 Speaker 2: women started crying, Like that touched women so much, this 741 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:03,320 Speaker 2: phenomenon of ADHD. I was actually diagnosed when I was fourteen, 742 00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:05,919 Speaker 2: really in the eighties, So that tells you how bad 743 00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:09,040 Speaker 2: my ADHD was. Wow, because women, girls were not being 744 00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:10,080 Speaker 2: diagnosed in the eighties. 745 00:41:10,120 --> 00:41:12,680 Speaker 1: Oh uncommon, I mean then, and especially thing for young 746 00:41:12,719 --> 00:41:13,320 Speaker 1: women now. 747 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:17,080 Speaker 2: And I had all the comorbidities. I had OCD, I 748 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:21,000 Speaker 2: had anxiety, I had skin picking, I had nervous ticks. 749 00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:24,719 Speaker 2: Like I was, you know, a kid who was really struggling. 750 00:41:24,719 --> 00:41:26,200 Speaker 2: And I started to fail out of school in the 751 00:41:26,239 --> 00:41:29,120 Speaker 2: eighth grade and that's when I got diagnosed. But there 752 00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:32,120 Speaker 2: was such a stigma around medication that I was never medicated, 753 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:34,359 Speaker 2: and so it didn't get better. It got worse right 754 00:41:34,760 --> 00:41:37,759 Speaker 2: throughout my lifetime. And it wasn't until I was in 755 00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:39,960 Speaker 2: my mid twenties, and I think my brain was fully 756 00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:44,080 Speaker 2: developed that I would learned workarounds for things that come 757 00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:47,600 Speaker 2: intuitively to other people. But it was a real struggle. 758 00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:51,399 Speaker 2: I tried medicating myself when I went through menopause because 759 00:41:51,400 --> 00:41:54,200 Speaker 2: I saw the symptoms becoming so much more severe, and 760 00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:56,040 Speaker 2: it just didn't work for me. I think my brain 761 00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:59,280 Speaker 2: is so now solidified in the way I do things 762 00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:03,160 Speaker 2: to get around the ADHD obstacles. But this is a 763 00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:06,480 Speaker 2: real thing, particularly for gen X women, who you know. 764 00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:08,800 Speaker 2: I have a lot of resentment for the way that 765 00:42:09,239 --> 00:42:12,640 Speaker 2: my parents handled it, the school system handled it. I 766 00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:18,279 Speaker 2: was treated as someone who was weird or different or unsuccessful, 767 00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:20,320 Speaker 2: right like, like I was always destined to be a loser. 768 00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:24,040 Speaker 2: I tell this story of I was in Catholic school 769 00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:26,920 Speaker 2: and there was an English assignment sent home and it 770 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:29,560 Speaker 2: was compare your daughter to someone in history. I was 771 00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:32,359 Speaker 2: in an all girls school and people would come in 772 00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:34,680 Speaker 2: and their parents would have compared them to Joan of 773 00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:38,640 Speaker 2: Arc or you know, the Virgin Mother. My parents compared 774 00:42:38,719 --> 00:42:41,719 Speaker 2: me to Willie Lowman, the tragic figure and death of 775 00:42:41,719 --> 00:42:48,640 Speaker 2: a salesman. Oh my god. Because I was kind of 776 00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:51,520 Speaker 2: a loser, right like, I had potential, but I couldn't 777 00:42:51,560 --> 00:42:53,160 Speaker 2: live up to it, and that's how I felt my 778 00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:55,960 Speaker 2: whole life. And my parents, you know, I don't mean 779 00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:57,960 Speaker 2: to be too harsh on them, but you know, as 780 00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:00,160 Speaker 2: an only child, and they they didn't know why I 781 00:43:00,239 --> 00:43:03,040 Speaker 2: was so different. But I'm so grateful now that I 782 00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:05,600 Speaker 2: had that experience, and it certainly prepared me to be 783 00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:08,279 Speaker 2: the parent of three of my children have ADHD, right, 784 00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:11,839 Speaker 2: and so I think that that made me who I am. 785 00:43:12,040 --> 00:43:15,520 Speaker 2: And you were talking about hyperfocus. How else could I 786 00:43:15,560 --> 00:43:17,759 Speaker 2: have worked on gun mine with prevention seven days a week, 787 00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:20,239 Speaker 2: twelve hours a day for eleven years only because of 788 00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:20,920 Speaker 2: my ADHD. 789 00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:24,200 Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, Because people will say to me, how do 790 00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:26,279 Speaker 1: you get so much done in a day, and my 791 00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:29,160 Speaker 1: response is always I never even get halfway through my 792 00:43:29,239 --> 00:43:32,040 Speaker 1: to do list. Yes, And then people who love me 793 00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:34,080 Speaker 1: have had to sit me down and say, I think 794 00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:36,799 Speaker 1: you do too much in a day. I think you 795 00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:39,480 Speaker 1: need to go for a walk. Like it's going to 796 00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:41,920 Speaker 1: sound so crazy, but I know you'll get it. My 797 00:43:42,040 --> 00:43:46,960 Speaker 1: therapist gave me an exercise and said, when you are 798 00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:50,640 Speaker 1: working from home, or you know, when you wrap a 799 00:43:50,719 --> 00:43:53,440 Speaker 1: podcast or whatever it is, because obviously not everything can 800 00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:56,480 Speaker 1: be broken into these increments. But when you're in control 801 00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:59,360 Speaker 1: of your timing, I want you to set a thirty 802 00:43:59,400 --> 00:44:02,279 Speaker 1: minute timer and when it goes off, I don't care 803 00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:05,440 Speaker 1: what you're doing, stop doing it and walk outside to 804 00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:07,280 Speaker 1: the end of the block and back, take five minutes 805 00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:09,160 Speaker 1: and go for a walk, and then come back and 806 00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:13,399 Speaker 1: start the thirty minute timer again. That's thirty on five off, 807 00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:19,040 Speaker 1: thirty on five off. For me, that feels like learning Mandarin. 808 00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:22,080 Speaker 1: We're not in the same alphabet, we're not in a 809 00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:27,439 Speaker 1: language I understand, and it's so simple. But what it's 810 00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:31,280 Speaker 1: beginning to do is help my brain take a breath, 811 00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:34,879 Speaker 1: because hyperfocus can feel like holding your breath all day. Yes, 812 00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:38,480 Speaker 1: and it shouldn't be that hard for a forty two 813 00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:39,880 Speaker 1: year old woman to walk to the end of the 814 00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:42,280 Speaker 1: block and back, But it's hard for me to stop 815 00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:46,640 Speaker 1: doing what I'm doing. And I am learning this thing 816 00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:49,120 Speaker 1: that would probably be easy for a five year old, 817 00:44:49,160 --> 00:44:54,520 Speaker 1: but for me is difficult, and it is really transforming 818 00:44:56,320 --> 00:44:59,799 Speaker 1: not only the way I learn to pause, but what 819 00:44:59,880 --> 00:45:04,319 Speaker 1: I what I realized kind of emotionally recently, was much 820 00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:06,319 Speaker 1: like you in my own way, I was going through 821 00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:11,319 Speaker 1: my own massive life shift and the exzema, and the 822 00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:15,280 Speaker 1: sort of physical stress response was my body. My body 823 00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:17,000 Speaker 1: had been trying to talk to me for so long 824 00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:21,239 Speaker 1: that it stopped talking and it started screaming, and I 825 00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:23,960 Speaker 1: had to start to pay attention to it. And the 826 00:45:24,080 --> 00:45:26,680 Speaker 1: coolest side effect I've realized of this thirty on to 827 00:45:26,760 --> 00:45:30,200 Speaker 1: five off thing is that I'm teaching my body it 828 00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:34,000 Speaker 1: can trust me. When the alarm goes off and I 829 00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:35,360 Speaker 1: get up and I go for a walk and I 830 00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:37,840 Speaker 1: look at the sun and I take deep breaths and 831 00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:40,160 Speaker 1: I jump around and then I come back to work. 832 00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:43,240 Speaker 1: My body knows I'm going to give it what it needs. 833 00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:47,880 Speaker 1: I'm not going to ignore what it needs. And in 834 00:45:47,920 --> 00:45:50,400 Speaker 1: this very weird way, I almost feel like I'm reparenting 835 00:45:50,440 --> 00:45:53,240 Speaker 1: myself now that I understand how my brain works. 836 00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:57,400 Speaker 2: And it's so difficult in a relationship too, because what 837 00:45:57,440 --> 00:45:59,600 Speaker 2: you're talking about, you know, is the same thing with 838 00:45:59,640 --> 00:46:02,560 Speaker 2: my husban been wondering where do I go and when 839 00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:07,240 Speaker 2: I become so immersed in something, you know, I organized 840 00:46:07,280 --> 00:46:10,279 Speaker 2: a zoom conference to raise money for Kamala Harris, the 841 00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:11,359 Speaker 2: White Woman answer the calls. 842 00:46:11,680 --> 00:46:14,120 Speaker 1: Let's get into that I disappeared. 843 00:46:13,480 --> 00:46:15,680 Speaker 2: For like four days. If my husband would just bring 844 00:46:15,719 --> 00:46:19,200 Speaker 2: me power bars in liquid and he's had to adjust too, right, like, 845 00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:21,320 Speaker 2: this is what she does, this is where she goes. 846 00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:24,640 Speaker 1: But it's also part of your superpower. Yes, that's your 847 00:46:24,680 --> 00:46:27,759 Speaker 1: hero stuff. And what I think is really precious is 848 00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:31,839 Speaker 1: especially when you've tried to do what the world tells 849 00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:33,759 Speaker 1: you to do and you have woken up realizing you're 850 00:46:33,760 --> 00:46:35,319 Speaker 1: in the wrong marriage, and you go, okay, I have 851 00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:39,000 Speaker 1: to start over. I think when you are in the 852 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:43,919 Speaker 1: right one and someone sees you and says, don't get up, 853 00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:46,120 Speaker 1: but I'm going to slide this bullet food in front 854 00:46:46,120 --> 00:46:46,560 Speaker 1: of your face. 855 00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:47,839 Speaker 2: This is who you are, and I'm going to take 856 00:46:47,880 --> 00:46:48,719 Speaker 2: care of you. 857 00:46:48,719 --> 00:46:51,040 Speaker 1: You know, during the election, much like you, I was 858 00:46:51,160 --> 00:46:53,200 Speaker 1: just in it. I was on a plane every day 859 00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:55,560 Speaker 1: when I was home. I was on forty zooms a day, 860 00:46:55,600 --> 00:46:58,279 Speaker 1: it felt like, and I'd be on a zoom and 861 00:46:58,320 --> 00:47:01,120 Speaker 1: I would just I would like, see appear from the 862 00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:05,400 Speaker 1: left and she'd hand me this like beautifully cooked breakfast 863 00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:08,920 Speaker 1: and and just you know, pat my arm off camera 864 00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:11,879 Speaker 1: and walk away. And I was like, you, angel, we have. 865 00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:14,560 Speaker 2: The same partner, right, Like, what is it like to 866 00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:15,240 Speaker 2: be loved? 867 00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:15,600 Speaker 1: What? 868 00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:16,280 Speaker 2: Yes? 869 00:47:16,680 --> 00:47:22,680 Speaker 1: And I think there's something so special in when you're 870 00:47:22,800 --> 00:47:26,680 Speaker 1: seen and supported so you can be who you are. 871 00:47:26,719 --> 00:47:28,239 Speaker 1: And I don't know if you have this, I do 872 00:47:28,320 --> 00:47:30,560 Speaker 1: know it's quite a common thing for people with ADHD. 873 00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:33,359 Speaker 1: You know, we start to do something and then get distracted. 874 00:47:34,400 --> 00:47:36,839 Speaker 1: And I know for someone like her, who is the 875 00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:41,120 Speaker 1: most orderly, cleanly person, clutter or a mess can drive 876 00:47:41,120 --> 00:47:44,759 Speaker 1: her crazy. And instead of losing her mind when she finds, like, 877 00:47:45,239 --> 00:47:48,240 Speaker 1: next to the bookshelf my plate with peanut butter toast 878 00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:51,840 Speaker 1: half eaten amidst the books, she just texts me pictures 879 00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:54,000 Speaker 1: of the weird places that I leave things around the 880 00:47:54,040 --> 00:47:57,520 Speaker 1: house and is like, you're ridiculous. I love you, and 881 00:47:57,600 --> 00:48:01,440 Speaker 1: it makes us both laugh and so's so sweet because 882 00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:04,160 Speaker 1: I'm like, that's where I left that, Like I couldn't 883 00:48:04,200 --> 00:48:06,759 Speaker 1: find my smoothie and it was like, you know, on 884 00:48:06,840 --> 00:48:12,280 Speaker 1: a shelf in the hall closet. And it's so different 885 00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:16,680 Speaker 1: to have a person who can see your thing. Yes, 886 00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:19,759 Speaker 1: you know, you've got someone with an endless supply of 887 00:48:19,800 --> 00:48:23,520 Speaker 1: power bars because he knows and loves you and it's 888 00:48:23,560 --> 00:48:35,879 Speaker 1: really special. And now a word from our sponsors. How 889 00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:41,279 Speaker 1: was the call organizing itself? You're obviously so amazing at it. 890 00:48:41,320 --> 00:48:45,320 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, ten million women you organized from 891 00:48:45,480 --> 00:48:49,840 Speaker 1: every disparate place space, political background for Mom's demand. You 892 00:48:49,920 --> 00:48:53,440 Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, you got the first gun legislation in a 893 00:48:53,520 --> 00:48:56,759 Speaker 1: generation passed. Then you decide to take a break, and 894 00:48:56,800 --> 00:49:01,719 Speaker 1: then we get into an incredibly consequent election, and as 895 00:49:01,760 --> 00:49:05,239 Speaker 1: you do, you do things big and you organize this 896 00:49:05,440 --> 00:49:12,080 Speaker 1: call that really helped collect a lot of women that 897 00:49:12,160 --> 00:49:14,880 Speaker 1: look like us. I remember because I was in France 898 00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:17,839 Speaker 1: for the Olympics and I was on the HRC call, 899 00:49:17,880 --> 00:49:20,000 Speaker 1: which was at the same time as your call. So 900 00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:24,120 Speaker 1: I had two computers open, going back and forth, you know, 901 00:49:24,200 --> 00:49:26,280 Speaker 1: making sure I could do my speaking thing and watch 902 00:49:26,360 --> 00:49:29,200 Speaker 1: everybody here. And I was like, God, I'm so inspired. 903 00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:32,959 Speaker 1: I'm sad now obviously. 904 00:49:32,840 --> 00:49:36,040 Speaker 2: Thinking about it, but there was so much energy. Well yeah, 905 00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:36,960 Speaker 2: what did it feel like? 906 00:49:37,200 --> 00:49:39,040 Speaker 1: And how how did you build it? 907 00:49:39,880 --> 00:49:43,920 Speaker 2: So I was reading on Twitter there were these tweets 908 00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:47,959 Speaker 2: from a woman named Joteika Edie. She's who has run 909 00:49:48,120 --> 00:49:50,480 Speaker 2: when with black women for a long time, and I 910 00:49:50,520 --> 00:49:52,839 Speaker 2: saw all these black women on Instagram and Twitter saying 911 00:49:53,840 --> 00:49:56,080 Speaker 2: I'm on this call for Kamala Harris. Now there's a 912 00:49:56,120 --> 00:49:58,960 Speaker 2: thousand people. Now there's five thousand people. Now there's ten 913 00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:00,920 Speaker 2: thousand people. We have to call Zoom, they have to 914 00:50:00,920 --> 00:50:03,799 Speaker 2: open up. I mean, it was so exciting, and they 915 00:50:03,880 --> 00:50:07,000 Speaker 2: raised millions of dollars right. And then the next day, 916 00:50:07,040 --> 00:50:09,279 Speaker 2: my friend Roland Martin got together with a group of 917 00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:11,359 Speaker 2: black men and did the same thing, and they had 918 00:50:11,400 --> 00:50:14,480 Speaker 2: even more people and raised more money. And as I 919 00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:16,319 Speaker 2: do when I wake up in the middle of the 920 00:50:16,360 --> 00:50:19,560 Speaker 2: morning because of menopause, like at four am, I just 921 00:50:19,680 --> 00:50:22,239 Speaker 2: tweeted out into the ether, when are white women going 922 00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:24,719 Speaker 2: to do the same thing? Yeah, not thinking, oh, I'm 923 00:50:24,719 --> 00:50:27,040 Speaker 2: going to organize this, you. 924 00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:29,319 Speaker 1: Were like I turns out I volunteered as trick. 925 00:50:29,520 --> 00:50:31,640 Speaker 2: That was a question, not a suggestion. 926 00:50:31,719 --> 00:50:32,440 Speaker 1: It was just a question. 927 00:50:33,080 --> 00:50:35,600 Speaker 2: So all of these women start dming me I'm in, 928 00:50:35,800 --> 00:50:38,040 Speaker 2: I'm in, I'm in. When is this? Tell us when? 929 00:50:39,280 --> 00:50:41,440 Speaker 2: And so that was the beginning, and I got connected 930 00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:45,799 Speaker 2: to Joe Tika and thought, Okay, this seems like there's 931 00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:48,879 Speaker 2: a lot of interest. But I never imagined it would 932 00:50:48,880 --> 00:50:50,839 Speaker 2: be what it was. I mean, we used a simple 933 00:50:50,920 --> 00:50:54,440 Speaker 2: Zoom link, and we used my own fundraising link that 934 00:50:54,520 --> 00:50:56,480 Speaker 2: I had from the campaign, not even Act Blue right 935 00:50:56,600 --> 00:51:00,719 Speaker 2: just to my link. Suddenly the zooms started and coming 936 00:51:00,719 --> 00:51:02,840 Speaker 2: back on it was like we were writing waves. We 937 00:51:02,880 --> 00:51:05,320 Speaker 2: got an email from Zoom saying congratulations, this is a 938 00:51:05,400 --> 00:51:08,000 Speaker 2: large Zoom call in history. By the end of the call, 939 00:51:08,600 --> 00:51:11,160 Speaker 2: we knew from my link we'd raise two million dollars, 940 00:51:11,200 --> 00:51:13,480 Speaker 2: and I thought, well, that's great, that's good. Cool. The 941 00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:15,840 Speaker 2: next morning I get a call. Now it's five million, 942 00:51:16,200 --> 00:51:18,440 Speaker 2: then it was eight million, then it was ended up 943 00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:23,000 Speaker 2: being eleven million dollars in two hours. And look, I 944 00:51:23,120 --> 00:51:25,799 Speaker 2: still am disappointed in the way white women voted, but 945 00:51:26,880 --> 00:51:29,680 Speaker 2: there was a five point increase from Biden among college 946 00:51:29,760 --> 00:51:31,840 Speaker 2: educated white women. I hope we can build on that 947 00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:36,640 Speaker 2: progress going forward. And you know, people always are bashing 948 00:51:36,760 --> 00:51:39,360 Speaker 2: so called identity of politics. I think it was a 949 00:51:39,400 --> 00:51:42,319 Speaker 2: really important conversation that needed to be had, which is, 950 00:51:42,400 --> 00:51:45,840 Speaker 2: why do white women vote in their own self interests 951 00:51:45,880 --> 00:51:47,719 Speaker 2: and not in all women's best interests. 952 00:51:48,080 --> 00:51:51,760 Speaker 1: But I think the question goes deeper than that, because 953 00:51:52,120 --> 00:51:54,840 Speaker 1: white women are not voting in their own self interest. 954 00:51:55,239 --> 00:51:57,160 Speaker 2: They think they are, they think. 955 00:51:57,280 --> 00:52:02,400 Speaker 1: They are, they think they're voting to uphold some semblance 956 00:52:02,480 --> 00:52:08,920 Speaker 1: of normalcy for their family, their husband, their neighborhood, but 957 00:52:08,960 --> 00:52:12,080 Speaker 1: they're actually voting against all of our interests. 958 00:52:12,440 --> 00:52:16,120 Speaker 2: As my friend Brittany Pagnet Cunningham says, my favorite, lady, 959 00:52:16,200 --> 00:52:18,400 Speaker 2: your whiteness will not save you from what the patriarchy 960 00:52:18,400 --> 00:52:19,160 Speaker 2: has in store for you. 961 00:52:19,840 --> 00:52:23,400 Speaker 1: And I think that's the illusion that patriarchy has given 962 00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:25,960 Speaker 1: to us, is that you know these men are here 963 00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:28,000 Speaker 1: to protect us. I look at women and I go 964 00:52:28,080 --> 00:52:33,360 Speaker 1: protect us from who men? Men. I don't want to 965 00:52:33,400 --> 00:52:38,600 Speaker 1: be protected from them. I want to be protected in 966 00:52:38,719 --> 00:52:42,680 Speaker 1: the law. I want to be protected in ways that 967 00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:46,600 Speaker 1: can't change with their mood. Because you see these men 968 00:52:46,640 --> 00:52:48,680 Speaker 1: in power now, you see Donald Trump, you see j 969 00:52:48,719 --> 00:52:52,399 Speaker 1: ad Vance. What they say is not what they're doing, 970 00:52:52,760 --> 00:52:56,000 Speaker 1: and what they're doing is so abhorrent, especially for women, 971 00:52:56,600 --> 00:52:59,760 Speaker 1: And I guess I want to know why you think 972 00:53:00,440 --> 00:53:04,120 Speaker 1: so many white women Bristle had the phrase white women? 973 00:53:04,800 --> 00:53:09,080 Speaker 1: Why why do so many white women get upset when 974 00:53:09,120 --> 00:53:15,799 Speaker 1: we say, hey, if we center black women in American politics, 975 00:53:16,520 --> 00:53:19,840 Speaker 1: American politics will get better for every woman, including with yes. 976 00:53:21,440 --> 00:53:24,240 Speaker 1: Why do you think that makes people feel so upset 977 00:53:24,320 --> 00:53:30,520 Speaker 1: or so left out, or so like high school click terrible? 978 00:53:30,680 --> 00:53:32,440 Speaker 1: What is that reaction about? 979 00:53:33,040 --> 00:53:36,439 Speaker 2: I think because we know that deep down inside there 980 00:53:36,520 --> 00:53:39,879 Speaker 2: is truth to the fact that we vote with white men, 981 00:53:40,400 --> 00:53:44,400 Speaker 2: whether it's our fathers, husbands, sons, and not with the 982 00:53:44,440 --> 00:53:46,920 Speaker 2: backbone of the party and the people who are truly 983 00:53:46,960 --> 00:53:49,920 Speaker 2: the most vulnerable and the people who would truly benefit 984 00:53:50,120 --> 00:53:53,640 Speaker 2: from our votes going in their favor. And that doesn't 985 00:53:53,680 --> 00:53:57,160 Speaker 2: feel great, right, there's sort of an innate defensiveness. I remember, 986 00:53:57,600 --> 00:54:00,360 Speaker 2: you know, after Hillary Clinton lost and there was a 987 00:54:00,360 --> 00:54:02,480 Speaker 2: discussion about this. I wasn't quite there yet. I was like, 988 00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:05,279 Speaker 2: don't criticize me. I voted for Hillary Clinton. And then 989 00:54:05,280 --> 00:54:07,480 Speaker 2: I thought, there's actually so much more I can do 990 00:54:07,560 --> 00:54:09,879 Speaker 2: because a lot of white women in my family did 991 00:54:09,920 --> 00:54:12,680 Speaker 2: not vote for Hillary Clinton. Ye, And those are conversations 992 00:54:12,719 --> 00:54:14,480 Speaker 2: I'm obligated to have. That's an not the work of 993 00:54:14,520 --> 00:54:17,000 Speaker 2: black women or women of color. It is the work 994 00:54:17,080 --> 00:54:20,759 Speaker 2: of white women who are positioned in friends and families 995 00:54:21,080 --> 00:54:25,520 Speaker 2: and who have impact and affluence that say here's how 996 00:54:25,560 --> 00:54:29,200 Speaker 2: I'm voting and here's why. And that is almost like 997 00:54:29,360 --> 00:54:30,080 Speaker 2: living on fire. 998 00:54:30,160 --> 00:54:30,399 Speaker 1: Right. 999 00:54:30,440 --> 00:54:32,680 Speaker 2: That is a brave and important conversation to have. 1000 00:54:32,960 --> 00:54:35,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a thing we have to do, and it's interesting. 1001 00:54:35,040 --> 00:54:38,400 Speaker 1: I have a woman in my life who if we 1002 00:54:38,440 --> 00:54:41,319 Speaker 1: met today, we would not be friends. But we've known 1003 00:54:41,360 --> 00:54:48,520 Speaker 1: each other a long time. We have fought over equality, equity, 1004 00:54:48,800 --> 00:54:52,400 Speaker 1: civil rights for a long time, and I have people 1005 00:54:52,400 --> 00:54:54,200 Speaker 1: in my life who say, just be done with it. 1006 00:54:54,880 --> 00:54:57,000 Speaker 1: And the thing I keep saying is I will not 1007 00:54:57,160 --> 00:54:59,960 Speaker 1: sick this woman on any woman of color that I love. 1008 00:55:00,680 --> 00:55:03,200 Speaker 1: It's not their job to teach her. Part of my 1009 00:55:03,400 --> 00:55:09,440 Speaker 1: job is to sit with her and work on these issues, 1010 00:55:10,040 --> 00:55:13,000 Speaker 1: explaining the truth, work on helping her undo her own 1011 00:55:13,040 --> 00:55:16,040 Speaker 1: internalized misogyny, her own illusions that whiteness is going to 1012 00:55:16,080 --> 00:55:20,840 Speaker 1: protect her these things. And it feels important to me 1013 00:55:21,080 --> 00:55:25,879 Speaker 1: because it doesn't feel by accident, and I think that 1014 00:55:25,920 --> 00:55:30,600 Speaker 1: has been a great learning for me. In twenty sixteen, 1015 00:55:30,880 --> 00:55:33,880 Speaker 1: I was like, if you voted this way, we cannot 1016 00:55:33,920 --> 00:55:36,759 Speaker 1: be friends. I am done. This isn't political, this is 1017 00:55:36,800 --> 00:55:41,160 Speaker 1: about humanity. And I realize that that's actually a very 1018 00:55:41,200 --> 00:55:45,680 Speaker 1: privileged reaction. Yes, because I can be done, but many 1019 00:55:45,719 --> 00:55:48,560 Speaker 1: of the women in my life can't be. And so 1020 00:55:48,719 --> 00:55:56,319 Speaker 1: I've actually doubled down on long patient conversations where I 1021 00:55:56,360 --> 00:55:59,560 Speaker 1: don't get into any facts for thirty minutes to an hour, 1022 00:55:59,640 --> 00:56:03,480 Speaker 1: I talk about personal experience, emotion, my own story, their 1023 00:56:03,520 --> 00:56:07,480 Speaker 1: own story, and then it's this will bump into your 1024 00:56:07,560 --> 00:56:09,960 Speaker 1: confirmation bias. You will not want to believe what I'm 1025 00:56:10,000 --> 00:56:15,640 Speaker 1: about to show you because it will trigger shame. We 1026 00:56:15,680 --> 00:56:19,080 Speaker 1: can talk about our shame together. Here's what's really going on. 1027 00:56:19,160 --> 00:56:22,200 Speaker 1: Here's the bills they've passed. Here's what they're doing to IVF, 1028 00:56:22,480 --> 00:56:24,719 Speaker 1: Here's what they're doing to access for hungry children to 1029 00:56:24,719 --> 00:56:30,359 Speaker 1: have food in school. Here's what they're doing. Let's talk 1030 00:56:30,400 --> 00:56:34,800 Speaker 1: about it. And it requires an immense amount of work, 1031 00:56:36,680 --> 00:56:39,279 Speaker 1: but I do feel like for me, it is part 1032 00:56:39,280 --> 00:56:42,600 Speaker 1: of my flame. I've learned that that's part of my fire. 1033 00:56:43,000 --> 00:56:46,080 Speaker 2: And what you're talking about is incremental progress. 1034 00:56:46,920 --> 00:56:49,800 Speaker 1: And oh but it's so hard to be so pacious. 1035 00:56:50,239 --> 00:56:52,799 Speaker 2: It is, and it's such a dirty word, particularly with 1036 00:56:52,880 --> 00:56:57,359 Speaker 2: young people, incrementalism. But I have seen incrementalism lead to revolutions. 1037 00:56:57,480 --> 00:56:58,040 Speaker 1: Well, that's it. 1038 00:56:58,480 --> 00:57:01,640 Speaker 2: And I think I think also when you talk about privilege, 1039 00:57:01,800 --> 00:57:05,040 Speaker 2: you know, Rebecca Tracter, the feminist rights about this, women, 1040 00:57:05,200 --> 00:57:07,359 Speaker 2: White women are used to winning, and when they don't win, 1041 00:57:07,400 --> 00:57:10,520 Speaker 2: they walk away. And so we really do have to 1042 00:57:10,800 --> 00:57:13,799 Speaker 2: not back down but double down and keep going even 1043 00:57:13,800 --> 00:57:14,359 Speaker 2: when it's hard. 1044 00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:20,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's really really important to be willing 1045 00:57:20,920 --> 00:57:25,000 Speaker 1: to do that. And I also think it's really important 1046 00:57:25,040 --> 00:57:30,040 Speaker 1: on this subject of walking away, you know, to to 1047 00:57:30,080 --> 00:57:34,080 Speaker 1: do that self inventory and figure out when we want 1048 00:57:34,080 --> 00:57:38,320 Speaker 1: to walk away, maybe why, But then to also take 1049 00:57:38,320 --> 00:57:42,160 Speaker 1: that out into the community and be really honest about 1050 00:57:42,200 --> 00:57:45,840 Speaker 1: the fact that activism doesn't end after an election. Yea, 1051 00:57:46,680 --> 00:57:50,760 Speaker 1: you know, there would have been a lot. Had Kamala want, 1052 00:57:51,440 --> 00:57:52,880 Speaker 1: there would have been a lot we would have been 1053 00:57:52,920 --> 00:57:55,360 Speaker 1: pressing her on. There would have been a lot we 1054 00:57:55,400 --> 00:57:59,400 Speaker 1: would have pressed that administration on. I think we would 1055 00:57:59,400 --> 00:58:04,440 Speaker 1: be in such a better position, but we would have 1056 00:58:04,440 --> 00:58:07,200 Speaker 1: still had work to do. Now we are in a 1057 00:58:07,320 --> 00:58:12,240 Speaker 1: worse position, and we have so much more work to do. 1058 00:58:13,120 --> 00:58:20,200 Speaker 1: How do you inspire listeners or suggest that they not 1059 00:58:21,400 --> 00:58:27,240 Speaker 1: lose hope despite the amount of backsliding we're seeing because 1060 00:58:27,280 --> 00:58:30,120 Speaker 1: we didn't. We didn't start a little ahead and then 1061 00:58:30,160 --> 00:58:32,880 Speaker 1: get ways to go. We started potentially a little ahead 1062 00:58:32,880 --> 00:58:34,200 Speaker 1: and then we slid all the way back. And how 1063 00:58:34,200 --> 00:58:39,400 Speaker 1: we got a double you know the yardage essentially, how. 1064 00:58:39,280 --> 00:58:39,560 Speaker 2: Do you. 1065 00:58:41,120 --> 00:58:43,240 Speaker 1: Not just get exhausted and stop? 1066 00:58:44,720 --> 00:58:46,360 Speaker 2: You know, it is a marathon, not a sprint, but 1067 00:58:46,400 --> 00:58:48,240 Speaker 2: it's also a relay race, and when you have to 1068 00:58:48,280 --> 00:58:50,919 Speaker 2: pass the baton, you do that right. I had many 1069 00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:53,600 Speaker 2: instances during the eleven years I led Moms to Me 1070 00:58:53,600 --> 00:58:56,120 Speaker 2: in action where I had a kid in crisis, or 1071 00:58:56,560 --> 00:58:58,040 Speaker 2: I had other things in my life I had to 1072 00:58:58,040 --> 00:59:01,040 Speaker 2: pay attention to. And you know, I think women are 1073 00:59:01,080 --> 00:59:03,880 Speaker 2: reluctant to give other people their work. They feel guilty, 1074 00:59:04,440 --> 00:59:07,120 Speaker 2: or they feel worried that other people might, you know, 1075 00:59:07,200 --> 00:59:10,480 Speaker 2: do it better. There's all that stuff built into us. 1076 00:59:10,520 --> 00:59:12,960 Speaker 2: And I felt that way. And what I realized was 1077 00:59:12,960 --> 00:59:15,120 Speaker 2: when I came back, the work was still there, and 1078 00:59:15,240 --> 00:59:17,840 Speaker 2: other people brought their energy and their ideas to it. 1079 00:59:17,960 --> 00:59:20,560 Speaker 2: That's what it makes That's what makes a community right, 1080 00:59:20,640 --> 00:59:23,640 Speaker 2: leaning on one another. So I would say think of 1081 00:59:23,680 --> 00:59:27,840 Speaker 2: it as a relay race, but also loose forward. And 1082 00:59:27,880 --> 00:59:29,439 Speaker 2: this was a motto at Mom's to me in action, 1083 00:59:29,960 --> 00:59:32,120 Speaker 2: you were going to lose. It's always going to be 1084 00:59:32,120 --> 00:59:34,520 Speaker 2: two steps forward, one step back. It's the incrementalism we 1085 00:59:34,560 --> 00:59:38,040 Speaker 2: talked about. But look for the hope, look for the wins. 1086 00:59:38,640 --> 00:59:42,720 Speaker 2: Maybe you lost on a legislation that you were trying 1087 00:59:42,760 --> 00:59:45,440 Speaker 2: to pass, but what did you win. You grew your chapter, 1088 00:59:45,840 --> 00:59:49,240 Speaker 2: You created new relationships with lawmakers, You figured out what 1089 00:59:49,360 --> 00:59:51,800 Speaker 2: it will take to win the next time. And I 1090 00:59:51,840 --> 00:59:55,080 Speaker 2: saw this happen over and over again, where you know, 1091 00:59:55,360 --> 00:59:58,040 Speaker 2: in states, you would think we would never make progress, 1092 00:59:58,080 --> 01:00:00,400 Speaker 2: either by defeating bad bills or passing go bills, and 1093 01:00:00,440 --> 01:00:03,760 Speaker 2: we did. It's cyclical. Politics is cyclical. What we're going 1094 01:00:03,800 --> 01:00:06,920 Speaker 2: through now will not last forever. So build that foundation 1095 01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:09,000 Speaker 2: you can build on when we win again. 1096 01:00:10,000 --> 01:00:13,960 Speaker 1: I love that when you talk about Emerge America and 1097 01:00:15,160 --> 01:00:17,120 Speaker 1: she should run in all these organizations, do you ever 1098 01:00:17,120 --> 01:00:19,400 Speaker 1: see yourself leaving for elected office? 1099 01:00:20,080 --> 01:00:23,160 Speaker 2: I get asked a lot. I never say never. I'm 1100 01:00:23,200 --> 01:00:26,640 Speaker 2: actually becoming a resident of Florida, which is exciting to 1101 01:00:26,680 --> 01:00:31,080 Speaker 2: me because California is great, but it's not as much 1102 01:00:31,120 --> 01:00:33,720 Speaker 2: of a pill battle as Florida, which I think will 1103 01:00:33,760 --> 01:00:35,760 Speaker 2: be fun to kind of get in the middle of. 1104 01:00:35,960 --> 01:00:37,640 Speaker 1: Oh she's ready. 1105 01:00:39,000 --> 01:00:41,360 Speaker 2: But you know, I think what I learned during Moms 1106 01:00:41,400 --> 01:00:44,440 Speaker 2: Do in action. Yes, I'm passionate about gun safety, but 1107 01:00:44,560 --> 01:00:47,880 Speaker 2: that wasn't what kept me going. I live to some 1108 01:00:48,000 --> 01:00:51,240 Speaker 2: in the audacity of other women, and so encouraging other 1109 01:00:51,280 --> 01:00:53,920 Speaker 2: women to step up to run, showing them they can 1110 01:00:53,960 --> 01:00:57,640 Speaker 2: do this, show them they can do anything personal, political, professional. 1111 01:00:58,160 --> 01:00:59,840 Speaker 2: That is what I'm focused on. 1112 01:00:59,840 --> 01:01:04,320 Speaker 1: Right Yeah. I love that. So then what feels like 1113 01:01:04,360 --> 01:01:05,760 Speaker 1: you're work in progress right now? 1114 01:01:06,800 --> 01:01:09,520 Speaker 2: My work in progress is bringing this book into the world. 1115 01:01:09,560 --> 01:01:12,080 Speaker 2: It has been like giving birth, writing it and now 1116 01:01:12,840 --> 01:01:14,960 Speaker 2: announcing that it's here and letting people read it and 1117 01:01:14,960 --> 01:01:18,959 Speaker 2: getting their reactions. I'm so excited about that. Fire Starter 1118 01:01:19,120 --> 01:01:20,840 Speaker 2: University is going to start in the fall, so it's 1119 01:01:20,840 --> 01:01:24,360 Speaker 2: a year long online program based on the book. And 1120 01:01:24,920 --> 01:01:26,840 Speaker 2: you know, then maybe I'll say, oh, I'm taking that 1121 01:01:26,880 --> 01:01:28,760 Speaker 2: break that I talked about last time, and he knows 1122 01:01:28,800 --> 01:01:29,560 Speaker 2: what will pop up. 1123 01:01:30,760 --> 01:01:34,400 Speaker 1: I know, I think back to when we were all 1124 01:01:34,440 --> 01:01:36,480 Speaker 1: away for our friend's birthday and you were like, guys, 1125 01:01:36,520 --> 01:01:38,480 Speaker 1: I'm going to do it. I'm going to take a sabbatical. 1126 01:01:39,240 --> 01:01:43,120 Speaker 2: Yep, we'll see, we'll see, we'll see. 1127 01:01:44,520 --> 01:01:46,920 Speaker 1: We can plan more getaways in the meantime. Maybe our 1128 01:01:46,920 --> 01:01:49,640 Speaker 1: sabbaticals are just meant to be seventy two hours a time. 1129 01:01:49,840 --> 01:01:53,040 Speaker 1: That's okay, you know, good bottle of wine. Nice you, 1130 01:01:53,720 --> 01:01:54,800 Speaker 1: and then we're right back at it. 1131 01:01:54,800 --> 01:01:55,360 Speaker 2: We're done. 1132 01:01:55,560 --> 01:01:57,720 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming today. Thank you for 1133 01:01:57,760 --> 01:02:02,080 Speaker 1: the book. It it really is I'll echo, Maggie, it 1134 01:02:02,160 --> 01:02:04,400 Speaker 1: really is exactly what we all needed and I'm glad 1135 01:02:04,440 --> 01:02:04,800 Speaker 1: it's here. 1136 01:02:05,000 --> 01:02:05,360 Speaker 2: Thank you.