WEBVTT - Vote for Mamas w/ Liuba Gretchen Shirley 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:05.240 Welcome to Katie's Crib, a production of Shonda Land Audio 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:08.640 in partnership with I Heart Radio. Anytime I talked about 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:11.719 paid leave or childcare, someone would always say, stick to 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:13.800 the bread and butter issues and ignore the women's issues. 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:18.759 Oh God, if we had similar labor force participation arts 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.000 to countries like Canada and Germany that have paid family 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:25.000 that have subsidice childcare, we'd have five and a half 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:27.960 million more women in the workforce. We'd add five billion 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:31.920 dollars a year to the economy. This is not a 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:34.960 women's issue. It is a family issue and economic issue. 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:45.120 It's an issue that affects every American. Hi, everybody, and 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:50.120 welcome back to Katie's Crib. Today we are getting into it. 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:56.240 We are talking all about paid family leave, universal childcare, 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:59.800 really big topics that need a lot of help. So 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:01.600 here to help us talk about that is the one 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:04.600 and only Luba Gretchen Shirley. She's the founder and CEO 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:06.520 of Vote Mama, which is the first pack in the 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:10.160 country to support democratic moms running for office. Luba has 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:13.480 spent her career leading organizations to empower working families both 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:15.920 at home and abroad. She previously worked for the u 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:18.319 N Foundation. She was selected as a Global Champion for 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:21.520 Women's Economic Empowerment by You and Women. Together with You 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:24.440 and Women, she launched the I Am Parent campaign for 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:27.600 Parent to Leave. In two thousand eighteen, Luba ran herself 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.160 for Congress to represent New York Second District in the U. 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:32.839 S House of Representatives. She also became the first woman 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:37.280 to receive federal approval to use campaign funds for childcare. Guys, 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:40.840 how cool is that? Following her historic win, candidates across 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:43.320 the country have followed her lead and petitioned their state 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:46.800 and local governments for the same right. Luba currently lives 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:50.760 on Long Island with her husband, Christopher and three children. 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:57.760 Welcome to Katie's Crab, Luba. I have wanted to do 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:00.640 a podcast about this topic and all the things we're 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:03.000 going to talk about for a long time, and I'm 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:06.200 so happy that you're here. But first, let's just hear 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:09.320 about you as a mom, Okay, like, like not all 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:11.920 the incredible not that we can even separate them because 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:16.079 they're so intertwined, but you have three children. I do. 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:19.239 I have three crazy children. Yes, Nila is going to 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:23.080 be seven on Sunday, which is shocking and She had 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:26.359 her her fifth dance recital last night, and I cried 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:30.280 like a fool. Yeah, she got a trophy for five 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:32.400 years of dance, so she's going to be seven. I 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:36.080 have no idea how that's possible. Wow, you're looking fierce 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:38.280 as hell. Let me tell you, because I'm sure you're 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:40.919 not sleeping and running around like a crazy person. Okay, 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:42.840 I'm not sleeping. I actually have a bit of a 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.480 cold and was up nursing the entire night. So it 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:50.520 was it was fun, It was awesome. Nicholas just turned five, 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:55.280 and Andrew is thirteen months. So, Andrew is your pandemic baby. 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:59.280 You and I connect on this. When was he in 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:03.359 the pandemic line up? In April, the height of the pandemic, 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:06.520 when had just really started. So I was thirty seven 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:08.720 weeks pregnant and they were telling everybody not to go 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:10.919 to the grocery store, not to leave your house, it's 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.960 not safe. And Nicholas broke his leg and we ended 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:16.160 up in the hospital exactly when they were saying it's 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.160 not even safe to go to the grocery store. They 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:20.040 literally kicked me out of the hospital because I was 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:22.160 too pregnantly said it wasn't safe. I had to sit 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:24.040 in the car and my husband went in with Nicholas 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:27.680 and then uh Andrew was born two weeks later, so 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.919 height of the pandemic. For twenty four hours of labor, 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:33.640 I wore a mask. I wore a mask too, but 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:38.680 only three hours. Holy crap. So okay, so all three 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:41.520 of your births have been are they all been long? 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:46.280 So Mila was twenty three hours of back labor, ended 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:48.360 up in an emergency c section. She was supposed to 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:51.280 be all natural, no drugs, had no drugs. And then 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:53.840 literally after twenty three hours and she refused to come 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:56.480 out and it was complete back labor. And then Nicholas 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:58.839 because he wasn't back labor. Honestly, I was like, this 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:01.080 is easy, this isn't like her, and I didn't really 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:03.440 realize it was in hard labor. So I bounced on 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:05.360 a yoga ball at home with Mila, who was bouncing 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.280 on her little yoga ball, and I I think it 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:10.839 was probably like nine o'cock at night. My mom's friend 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:12.760 came over and she's like, you know, your contractions are 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:14.800 five minutes apart. You need to go to the hospital. 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:18.200 We parked the car at nine and he came out 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:23.120 at time forty four. Holy crap, you just made it. Yeah, 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:25.360 and it was a V back. It was a v back. Yeah. 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:28.159 And then Andrew was the longest, which they always say, 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:31.599 the third is the wild card. Yes, I have heard this, 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:33.680 which I don't think we've talked about on Katie's crim 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:35.840 at all, but yes, there's this thing that says you 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:38.159 can sort of assume that the first is going to 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:43.200 be laborious and difficult and and unknown, the second is 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:45.679 going to be easier than the first, and the third 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:49.599 couldn't go either way. The third was probably and I 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:51.120 have to I can't even I can't beat him sitting. 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:54.119 He was probably the least traumatic birth, which is weird 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:57.800 because it was, but it was the least traumatic, but 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:01.520 the longest. I mean, so you births twenty three hours 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:05.320 in a mask? What is your housband's name? Christopher? Was 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:06.960 he allowed in the room at that time, because I 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:08.520 remember at the beginning of the pandemic, it was like 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:10.880 changing by the day, by the week, whether or not 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:14.240 your partners or any plus ones were allowed in the room. Yeah, 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:17.640 he was, thankfully um for for weeks exactly. They were 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:19.599 changing it every few days and they weren't sure, and 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:21.919 I when they said that we weren't going to have 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:23.880 a partner, I went into full on panic, both because 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:25.520 I knew what it was like to give birth. I 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:28.320 had two pretty traumatic births. The last time I had 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:30.719 complications after Nicholas, and it was it was just a 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:33.440 whole um, the whole thing. So, I mean I was 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:35.719 hospitalized for four days after Nicholas. I ended up with 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.320 an infection and retained placenta and all sorts of things. 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:40.000 So what does that mean? So there were pieces of 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.599 your placenta that didn't come out in the after birth 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:45.760 and so they were still in there, which makes you 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:48.120 really sick. I ended up with a hundred and five fever. 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:50.880 So then like two weeks after Nicholas was born, I 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:53.159 had a hundred and five fever. I was admitted to 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:56.560 the hospital and ivy meds for four days. When they 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.400 sent me home with iby meds in for another nine days. 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:03.520 Oh my god, I thought of like that alone, I 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:07.119 going alone, Like I was having like an actual panic attack. 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:09.400 And I remember calling every elected official I know, and 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:11.120 I was like, you have to call you have to 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:12.560 call the governor. We have to take care of this. 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.159 So literally I was on the phone with every elected 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.320 official in New York and Governor Cuomo actually put out 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:19.880 a statement and said every every laboring woman gets to 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:22.640 have one support person. So I was gonna have my mom, 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:25.040 Adula and my husband. I had my husband. It was fine. 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:27.560 I was just glad to have him um. And it 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.200 was weird because my kids didn't meet Andrew until we 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:32.200 came home. They didn't get to meet him in the hospital, 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.360 which was a very strange scenario. And they kept playing 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:37.520 here comes the Sun, I'm the I'm the speaker over 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:40.000 in the hospital because every time someone was discharging COVID 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:45.200 they played that Oh my god, wow, you can never 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:49.160 the Wow. That song has such like deep meaning for you. 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.640 That's wild. Were you so terrified at the end of 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.080 your pregnancy of I mean I remember just when I 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:57.039 found I got pregned in a week before shut down, 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:58.960 and it was you know, they just didn't know how 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.120 it affected pregnant See, they didn't know how it affected 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:03.480 pregnant women. They didn't know how it affected a baby. 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.120 Like it was all like the wild West. It was 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:09.320 so insane. Yeah, I was. I was not calm. I 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:12.320 was very nervous. I mean, I I didn't know what 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:14.520 was going to happen. And I was literally telling my 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:16.560 kids this morning driving me into school, and I was saying, 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:18.480 we should we should actually do a recording where we 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:20.320 talk about what this last year was like for you, 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:23.280 so we remember it because this was historic. And I'd 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:25.120 be interested to listen back to when you were, you know, 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:26.840 were five and six and what it was like for 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:29.480 you when you think back a year ago, were already 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:31.840 beginning to know process this and come out of it 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:34.280 a little bit more. And but a year ago, nobody 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:36.680 knew what was happening. Nobody knew anything. It was scary 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:39.240 as hell. We were going into a hospital, we were 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:41.200 having you know, a baby in the middle of a pandemic, 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:43.320 wearing a mask. I mean I remember them taking the 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:45.600 mask off, giving the oxygen and putting the mask back on. 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:49.960 It was it was scary. I mean, there's really no 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:51.600 way you had no idea what was going to happen 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:54.280 if you were hearing horror stories of infants getting it 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:56.600 and babies getting it. And Andrew with the whole family 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.000 ended up getting in November. And Andrew and I actually 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:00.960 not the worst, but you know, we got through it. 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:03.120 In April when he was born, and that was all okay. 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:06.800 Oddly enough, my mom, who's you know seven now, I 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:09.160 was worried the most about her, thinking she she probably 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:11.400 had the best of everybody her and my husband probably 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:13.560 head of the best. Um. But yeah, my mom got 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:16.880 it first, and then we all got it. Andrew got it, 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:20.440 I got it, kids did, my husband did. Nicholas was fine, 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:24.280 had no symptoms. Mila had a headache and was just tired. Um. 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:26.400 I got a very high fever and was very, very 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:29.400 sick for probably like sixties and were you able to 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:32.680 breastfeed through it? Like he was awake for maybe an 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:34.880 hour of the day. I slept from the majority of 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:36.640 the time. The two of us just slept and nursed. 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:38.760 And they get the antibodies even you know, when you're sick, 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:41.440 especially he can now, and the antibodies from having COVID 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:43.440 and the hell from from me having the vaccines, getting 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:44.920 the antibodies from the brest of life. But it's the 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:48.560 best thing you can do. Amazing, how cool. I never 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:52.840 even considered not nursing during it. So shifting gears, how 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:56.320 did you get into politics? I've always been political. I 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.280 mean I was volunteering on county ledge races. When I 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:01.200 was three years old with my mom, I was stuffing 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:03.760 envelopes and you know, our local elected office, and so 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:06.840 I was always political. I studied politics and undergrad. I 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:09.400 never planned on running profice at this point in my life. 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:11.160 I thought I'd run at some point when I was older, 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.480 when my kids were grown. I was living in the city. 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:16.480 I went to n YU for for undergrad and grad. 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:20.520 I had Mila at that point, and I was not 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:22.480 planning on moving back to Long Island. I grew up here, 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:25.160 but I was pregnant and I did not have access 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:27.679 to paid family. And then I remember putting my name 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:30.040 on waitlist for child care centers and never making at all. 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:32.520 And I eventually about a year and like Niel, I 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:34.880 was about a year old and my husband is not 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.480 from Long Island, South African and we made the decision 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:40.719 to move here, and we did it for free babysitting. 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:42.360 And I remember thinking, oh my god, this is it. 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:44.240 I'm gonna get mommy trapped. I'm gonna get stuck on 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.280 Long Island as a suburban mom, and what am I 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:47.760 going to do when I want to start full time 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:51.280 working again. I was consulting part time. I had a baby, 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:53.720 I had a second baby, was not planning on running 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:56.400 for Congress. And Peter King had been in office since 0:09:56.440 --> 0:10:00.280 I was twelve and had consistently voted to her people 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:04.040 in my districted across the country. I was watching his 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:07.760 voting record, watching his complete support of Donald Trump and 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:10.920 the horrible things he was doing. I started an Indivisible group, 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:13.000 and literally every morning I would be up nursing Nicholas 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:14.760 and on my phone writing an action alert. You know, 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:17.200 this is the particular issue. There was a new executive 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:19.560 order every other day. I would write a whole list 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:20.920 of all this is the background, this is what we're 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:23.360 going to call King's office about. And then King came 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:25.240 out and support of the Musliman and I called his 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:27.080 office and I said, I'm having a protest. It's like 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:29.320 to come in and speak with him, and they said, sure, 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:31.679 show up at the opposite three thirty. I got there 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:33.480 three thirty. They had locked the doors and sent the 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:37.400 staff home, and we had about four people protests. And 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:39.400 I called on Monday morning and he agreed to meet 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:41.880 with me because I had so many people protests that 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:43.640 he told the press later that he met with a 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:47.600 leader of a resistance group. Oh god, not a mom 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:50.160 in his community, a leader of a resistance group. And 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:52.199 I went in. I brought three people from the district 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:53.840 with me, three friends, and I said, look, I'd like 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:55.560 you to hold a town hall. I'm glad that you're 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:57.640 meeting with me, but they're hundreds of people who've been 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:00.520 trying to get meetings with you. Right he was blocking 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:03.200 everybody on Facebook. He wouldn't talk to anybody. So he 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:05.160 told me flat out that holding a town hall would 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:09.960 only diminish democracy. And that was pretty much it for 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:12.200 me at that point. I organized the town hall. I 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:15.120 had a six ft cardboard cutout of Peter King. He 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.040 of course didn't come. We invited him. I held the 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:19.960 town hall for him, and then people started saying, are 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:21.920 you going to run against him? And I said, no, 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.240 you're crazy. I have two tiny babies, I'm nursing. There's 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:26.559 no way I can do this. And I remember people 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:28.520 really saying, what can we do to convince you to 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:30.559 run right now? And I laughed and I said, well, 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:32.800 I need childcare. My mom is a teacher. She was 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.800 still working then. She's retired now, thankfully, But I had 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:37.320 them with me all day, and then she'd come home 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:39.079 at three thirty and she would watch them, and that's 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:42.320 when I would start my consulting work. Oh my god, Luba, 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:45.400 this is insane, but I I didn't think I would 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:48.319 do it, honestly, and I just kept watching his votes, 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:50.360 and then he voted to take healthcare away from seventy 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:53.240 four thousand people in our district alone, and I just 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:56.160 got pissed. I got really really pissed. And I know 0:11:56.240 --> 0:11:58.200 you're not supposed to be the angry woman. I was 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:03.280 the angry woman, fully so, and nobody took me seriously. 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:05.240 I was a young woman. I had a one year 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.040 old and a three year old. I had never run 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:10.440 for office before. Our our Democratic chairman literally told people 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:12.120 that I was like Tracy Flick, you know, the Reese 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:15.040 Witherspoon character, and election an election of course, of course, 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:19.840 the young blonde girl nobody nobody looked at seriously shapped 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:22.360 it off. I ended up out raising Peter King. I 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:25.560 raised more than two million dollars with new corporate knocked 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:29.200 in two fifty doors, and he had always won by 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.480 four to forty something points. He only won by six 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:36.200 points this time, and he decided to retire afterwards because 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:40.920 he didn't want to go through that again. Wow, unbelievable. 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:42.920 I have to tell you a lot of fun. You 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:56.360 had a lot of fun. So you've always been a 0:12:56.360 --> 0:13:00.040 political person. Your mother raised you to be super a 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:04.439 where and involved. Is it this situation and this experience 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:06.760 that made you start vote? Mama, tell me about the 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:10.080 pack and why. So we have we have a foundation 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:13.120 and pack. Our pack is the political arm We work 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:15.480 to get democratic moms elected from school board to Senate. 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:17.760 We fund them, we mentor them, we trained them. We 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:22.200 have this incredible advisory committee, people like Representatives Katie Porter Moore, 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:25.640 Kim shriyor Terry Stool, Grace Meang, We have the Tenant 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:29.800 Governor's Stundate, State Senators, all of these amazing people who 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:32.319 sit on our advisory committee who help us mentor these candidates. 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:35.160 But it's really about providing them Mama's net work, making 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.760 sure that they have the support. Um we you know 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:41.120 I had. I had one of our county supervisors who's 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:42.880 an alumni, called me the other day and she said, 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:45.160 you know, I really need to talk to their mothers 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:47.439 at the same the same level of elected office. Can 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:49.920 we put something together? So I literally started to reach 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:51.640 out to all of our city council members, all of 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:55.200 our county county legislators and exact and we're putting together 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:57.000 a Zoom happy hour just so they can talk to 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:00.600 each other. That's awesome. So we're working to get these 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:04.600 moms intopice. The foundation side is working to actually break 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:06.959 down the structural barriers to make it easier for them 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:09.960 to run. Through our foundation, we're working to pass campaign 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:12.840 funds for childcare in all fifty states. That is our 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:16.440 research arm it's our nonprofit, nonpartisan arm. Our long term 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:19.080 goal is to get universal child Here pasted our short 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:21.680 term goals campaign funds for childcare, because this breaks down 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:24.080 the barrier. It makes it easier to elect more moms. 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:27.200 But we're working with legislators to pass family friendly legislation 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:30.360 to normalize what it looks like to actually talk about 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:34.200 this legislation with an economic lens, because that's when people 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:36.080 start to take you seriously, and that's when they start 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:39.280 to listen. When they understand that this legislation is not 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:41.800 just the right thing to do, but the economically smart 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.960 thing to do, you start to get crossover. You start 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:47.400 have to get through Republicans and Democrats talking about it. 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.480 So during my campaign I had the babies with me. 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:52.920 Literally every day till three thirty I was giving speeches 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:54.720 with Nicholas and the baby. We're up nursing with meal 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.240 and running around next to me. There's no playbook for 0:14:57.240 --> 0:14:59.520 how to run profice, but there's really no playbook for 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:01.080 how to do with small children. There's no one to 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:02.600 reach out and say, hey, how do you do this? 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.720 What's the schedule? Like, how do I manage this part 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.400 of my life with this part? We have so many 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:10.880 millionaires in Congress. Literally more than half of our representatives 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:14.400 are millionaires, because Congress is not set up for working Americans. 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.720 You have to be wealthy and connected to even jump 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:21.480 start a race. Most working people don't have the ability 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:23.160 to that. I remember being told, you have to raise 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:26.160 a hundred thousand dollars before anyone takes you seriously. I 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.920 had a nonprofit background. I don't come from a wealthy family. 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:30.720 I had no idea how I was going to do that, 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:32.800 and I did it. It It was a hundred and twenty 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:34.920 six in the first two months, and then I hired staff. 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:37.680 I had campaign manager, and then I got to find instructor, 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:39.680 and we kept building and growing and raising the money. 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:43.840 But it was sheer, just determination. But so many people 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:48.600 don't have that ability to even start. So during the campaign, 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:50.920 about five months into the campaign, I still had both 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.760 babies with me all day, and I put a request 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:55.960 into the Federal Election Commission and I said, can I 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:58.640 use some of my campaign funds for child care? Frankly, 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:02.120 everybody said it was political so aside. They said, you're crazy. 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.080 You're going to get attacked as a woman, as a mom. 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:06.960 I was already getting attacked for being a mother. Yeah, 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:10.120 you were like, yeah, They were like, don't, don't do this. 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:12.680 But the reality is when you're running and you have 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:14.560 school loans and you're trying to figure out how to 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:15.800 pay your bills, and then all of a sudden, you're 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.600 supposed to pick up the cost of childcare without a salary, 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:21.280 because when you run for Congress, you don't get any salary. 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:24.560 You can't work another job full time for It's like 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:28.080 coming three full time jobs plus two babies. So I 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:29.640 didn't have the ability to pick up the costs of 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:32.480 child care. I put this request in and I remember 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:35.360 driving down to d C with with Mel and Nicholas, 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:38.040 and we knew that Glamor magazine was going to cover 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:41.040 it the next day. It was a bipartisan, unanimous decision. 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:43.840 Every press outlet in the country covered it. Fox News 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:46.120 said it was the one bipartisan thing they could agree with, 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.840 which till this day still shocks me. Wow. But it 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:51.960 changed the way that people are in profits. Fifty on 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:54.960 federal candidates have now used their campaign councer childcare, men 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.120 and women, Republicans and Democrats. Almost seventies state candidates have 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:02.480 done this, and so we're actually working with the Vote 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:04.480 Mama Foundation, which I'll tell you about in a little bit, 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:06.600 but we're where can you break down the structural barriers? 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:08.960 So we've been working to get campaign funds for childcare 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:11.520 now passed at the state level for all state and 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:14.280 local candidates, because my FBC ruling improved it for all 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:18.320 federal candidates. But each state has different laws. We're changing 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:20.720 this and we've actually got eleven states to approve legislation. 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:25.359 This is amazing. We are breaking down the barriers. The 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:29.560 goals got all fifty states three so Connecticut just passed 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:31.359 the House and is after the governor. They're about to 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:35.280 become the twelfth state to pass legislation. This is incredible 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:40.960 that people can use campaign funds for childcare. Um Vote 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.080 Mama is trying to normalize what it looks like to 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:47.080 run as a mother besides just trying to get childcare. Like, 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:49.440 how how else is vote Mama helping to do this? 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:52.760 So I wanted to pack right after my campaign, end 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:56.080 it because people do not look at moms and take 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:58.960 us seriously, like the donors don't, the press doesn't, voters don't. 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:01.760 And the only to teams that is to normalize it, 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:04.119 to actually see more moms running for profice. You know, 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:06.480 they're all of these organizations across the country that work 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:09.239 to get women elected. The reality is, at a time 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:11.640 we're forty four years old, eighty six percent of American 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:14.439 women or moms, and yet just six percent of our 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:17.199 congress members or moms with kids eighteen or younger. You 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:19.480 need people in office who understand these issues at a 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:23.160 visceral level, and our policies have failed American families for generations. 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:26.439 So I launched Obama. I wanted to be able to 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:30.040 support moms running and help them in every way. So normally, 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:32.359 when you get into a race and you fell out 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:35.000 a pack endorsement application, you have that interview, you pretend 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:37.320 everything is perfect. I've raised all this money, I have 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:40.119 all these endorsements, I have all this wonderful campaign staff 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:42.440 and support, X, Y and Z. Give me money, you 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:44.760 get a check and they move on. I wanted to 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:46.920 be a different organization. I wanted to be the pack 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:48.600 that when you come and talk to us, you can 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:50.879 literally break down crying during your interview. We've had that 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:53.320 happened many times. You can talk to us about what 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:55.919