Speaker 1: Hey, ba fam, we have another how to throw back
Speaker 1: for you. We've talked about before on the show about
Speaker 1: the amazing organization Higher Heights. They are a five to
Speaker 1: oh one C three that is building a national civic
Speaker 1: engagement infrastructure and network to strengthen black women's leadership capacity.
Speaker 1: We love a black woman leader. Okay, so this week
Speaker 1: we are looking back at our conversation with the one
Speaker 1: and the only founders, one of the founders of Higher Heights.
Speaker 2: Glinda c.
Speaker 3: Car Check it out, Check it out, check it out.
Speaker 3: Heyba fam, it's Mandy. I'm here with a pretty special
Speaker 3: and unusual show for you guys this week. It almost
Speaker 3: wasn't any show at all. For those of y'all who
Speaker 3: listened to our and joined our Instagram live the Tiffany
Speaker 3: and I did last week, thank you so much. We're
Speaker 3: sorry we weren't able to post the video for y'all.
Speaker 3: Apparently something happened with Instagram and Tiffany couldn't save it.
Speaker 4: Maya Kopa. But on the live we said that we
Speaker 4: have a bit of a surprise, and it's because of
Speaker 4: that surprise that we're not able to record a new
Speaker 4: show last week. So you might have noticed there was
Speaker 4: no episode. We're very sorry, but it's for a really,
Speaker 4: really good reason, a reason that I can't quite announce
Speaker 4: just yet, so we'll wait until next week when Tiffany's back.
Speaker 4: That being said, we are here. We are here, y'all. Okay,
Speaker 4: don't worry. We're fine. Since we couldn't record our regular show, though,
Speaker 4: I wanted to go ahead and share with you guys
Speaker 4: an amazing conversation that I had last week when we
Speaker 4: were off with the CEO and co founder of an
Speaker 4: organization based in Brooklyn, New York called Higher Heights for America.
Speaker 4: This is a nonprofit that actually focuses on getting black
Speaker 4: women elected to higher office. So I'm talking about mayor races,
Speaker 4: gubernatorial races, and beyond Kamala Harris. Yep, that is someone
Speaker 4: that Higher Heights has championed and endorsed and helped support
Speaker 4: and they are not stopping now. I had Glinda Carr
Speaker 4: join the show, and I'm thrilled to share that conversation
Speaker 4: with you guys. Why because yes, I had chills just
Speaker 4: like the rest of you last week when we watched
Speaker 4: Kamala get sworn in as the first female black vice
Speaker 4: president in our nation's history. I can never get tired
Speaker 4: of saying that. But that being said, when I started
Speaker 4: to do my googles about black women in politics, Kamala
Speaker 4: was a rarity, and I don't think even I appreciated
Speaker 4: how rare her presence was in our nation's capital until
Speaker 4: I really got down and dirty with the numbers. So
Speaker 4: let me share some with you. Okay. There are zero
Speaker 4: zero black women serving in our US Senate right now. Okay, Now,
Speaker 4: there were a record number of black women in the
Speaker 4: House of Representatives in twenty twenty one, twenty five, though
Speaker 4: y'all only twenty five. Like that's a record that is pathetic. Okay,
Speaker 4: Like I cannot twenty five out of four hundred and
Speaker 4: thirty five elected officials in the House are black women.
Speaker 4: And that's twenty five women Black women in Congress at
Speaker 4: a time when I mean, haven't you guys heard the
Speaker 4: pundits and the politicians thanking black women. How we saved
Speaker 4: the election for Joe and Kamala. You know how we
Speaker 4: saved twenty twenty, how we turned out in states like
Speaker 4: Georgia and gave them the edge that they needed. Thank you,
Speaker 4: Black women, Thank you Stacy Abrams, Thank you to our
Speaker 4: fore mothers like Shirley Chisholm, Fanny lou Hamer, and so
Speaker 4: many women who came before them and after. But what
Speaker 4: are we really seeing reflected on Capitol Hill. We are
Speaker 4: not seeing ourselves, and I think that's a problem. I'm
Speaker 4: not saying that we have to get out there and
Speaker 4: run for governor like Stacy Abrams or run for mayor
Speaker 4: like Kisha Land's Bottoms. But what I hope is that
Speaker 4: my conversation with Glinda encourages all of us to not
Speaker 4: just stop with casting our vote in the twenty twenty election,
Speaker 4: but to stay engaged at the local level. And maybe
Speaker 4: you're not someone who wants to run for an office,
Speaker 4: whether it's a town council or the school board or whatever.
Speaker 4: Maybe you're not someone who has aspirations of getting into politics.
Speaker 4: But before you give up on yourself, or before you
Speaker 4: think that it's not for you, listen to my conversation
Speaker 4: with Glinda and feel empowered. Our voices matter, Our voices
Speaker 4: can bring about the change that we need to see
Speaker 4: in this country, and twenty twenty was just the beginning.
Speaker 4: I am so excited for you guys to hear my
Speaker 4: conversation with Glinda. Please hit me up on Instagram. We're
Speaker 4: at Brown Ambition Podcast on the Gram. You can also
Speaker 4: send us an email at Brown Ambition Podcast at gmail
Speaker 4: dot com. Send us your thoughts, your questions. We can't
Speaker 4: wait to be back with you guys next week with
Speaker 4: a brand new show. In the meantime, I enjoy this
Speaker 4: conversation with Glinda and you can check her out at
Speaker 4: Higher Heights for America dot org. All right, Glinda, well,
Speaker 4: thank you very much for coming to Brown Ambition. It's
Speaker 4: really an honor to have you here, especially during a
Speaker 4: year when it seems like Brown Ambition really became a
Speaker 4: little bit less about money and career and a lot
Speaker 4: more about what is it like out there for black
Speaker 4: women in this world today? And how can we get
Speaker 4: more political? I don't know, political power. How can we
Speaker 4: feel more empowered other than you know, the news headlines
Speaker 4: will have you believe that, you know, black women really
Speaker 4: came out for this election in previous elections and saved
Speaker 4: you know, the progressive candidates and got them elected. But
Speaker 4: you often, personally, for me, you don't always feel like
Speaker 4: you're seeing the representation on Capitol Hill or even the
Speaker 4: state capitals that matches that you know, appreciation for Black
Speaker 4: women and our power politically. So I'm so excited to
Speaker 4: have you on the show because of what I want
Speaker 4: to talk to you about is, you know, first and foremost,
Speaker 4: what is Higher Heights? Why did you guys found this organization?
Speaker 4: And where do you see the future for Black women
Speaker 4: in politics? Is it an exciting time? Is it a
Speaker 4: time where you know, we're sort of you know, accepting
Speaker 4: that there's still a long way to go. How are
Speaker 4: you feeling these days? And especially for our listeners, we'd
Speaker 4: love to hear from you tips on how people can
Speaker 4: get involved in their local politics, day politics and beyond,
Speaker 4: you know, in a way that helps them contribute more
Speaker 4: than just a vote.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: So, you know, black women have been the architects of
Speaker 5: our democracy since the nineteenth Amendment, in frankly earlier, but
Speaker 5: the nineteenth Amendment. We're in the one hundredth and one
Speaker 5: anniversary of that amendment and that movement, and so black
Speaker 5: women certainly, you know, sat among the suffrages of that movement,
Speaker 5: knowing that they weren't going to reap the benefits of
Speaker 5: the work of that decision making table.
Speaker 2: And that's been the work.
Speaker 5: Of black women across many of the milestones across our
Speaker 5: movement building history. You know, black women were clearly the
Speaker 5: architects and quiet organizers during the Civil rights movement. You
Speaker 5: had a Fanny lou Hamer, who frankly was an everyday
Speaker 5: woman sharecropper, who sat in the back of a church
Speaker 5: and got fired up and went from you know, being
Speaker 5: motivated to registering to vote to registering over eighty thousand
Speaker 5: residents in Mississippi, and went on and sat at the
Speaker 5: Democratic National Convention carrying the voices of African Americans demanding
Speaker 5: seats at that convention, which led to just more political power.
Speaker 5: And so we fast forward to twenty twenty and a
Speaker 5: once again a chorus of thank you Black women for
Speaker 5: saving the country.
Speaker 2: I'll be frank, we're not saving the country for our neighbors.
Speaker 5: Black women recognize that, you know, the access to the
Speaker 5: voting block and exercising the right to vote helps to
Speaker 5: build the power. What we demanded in twenty twenty, though,
Speaker 5: was that we want a return on our voting investment,
Speaker 5: and that's in the form of policies that directly impact
Speaker 5: Black women, our families, and our communities.
Speaker 2: And we certainly are continuing to claim seats at decision
Speaker 2: making tables.
Speaker 5: Our political power at the voting booth actually doesn't match
Speaker 5: equally match our representation at elected decision making tables.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean what does it mean to you? I
Speaker 4: think with the Capital riot, you know, how long has
Speaker 4: it been now? It feels like months, but it was
Speaker 4: only a week and a half ago that there was
Speaker 4: an insurrection against the US capital, which is still shocking
Speaker 4: to say. And part of me is a little bit
Speaker 4: sad because I mean, well, first of all, sad for
Speaker 4: so many reasons, but also it feels like it's sort
Speaker 4: of taking away from this moment of history of having
Speaker 4: the first black female vice president, women of South Asian descent,
Speaker 4: all of that. Kamala Harris, and I wonder how you
Speaker 4: feel and how you know, higher Heights is looking at
Speaker 4: her candidacy, her nomination, her win as vice president. What
Speaker 4: excites you about that? And do you feel like Kamala
Speaker 4: is bringing to the table that sense of listen, I
Speaker 4: am here, I'm a black woman, and I am going
Speaker 4: to be unapologetic about that and put forth policies that
Speaker 4: truly help black women in their communities.
Speaker 5: Absolutely so, we have been proud to stand with Vice
Speaker 5: President elect or as soon to be Madam VP Kamala
Speaker 5: Harris since her run for US Senate in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 5: so we've only had two black women ever elected to
Speaker 5: the US Senate, right, and so there's a lot of
Speaker 5: work to continue to ensure that we have representation at all.
Speaker 2: Decision making cables.
Speaker 5: But we certainly were excited that she joined the US
Speaker 5: Senate at a point where she brought not only her
Speaker 5: you know, years of qualifications as an elected official that
Speaker 5: ran one and governed on the city level, ran one
Speaker 5: and governed on the statewide executive level, and then carried
Speaker 5: her voice to the US Senate, and we proudly said
Speaker 5: with her when she ran for President of the United States,
Speaker 5: and her multiple identities as a woman, as a woman
Speaker 5: of color, as a daughter of two immigrants, and a
Speaker 5: black woman, as well as her identities around attending a
Speaker 5: historically black college, being a member of a Greek you know,
Speaker 5: a black Greek letter organization. You know, we're excited about
Speaker 5: her standing and presiding over the US Senate at a
Speaker 5: time where you know, her vice presidency will make her
Speaker 5: one of the most you know, consequential, you know leaders
Speaker 5: in a generation with a fifty to fifty split Congress,
Speaker 5: and so although we are you know, very concerned that
Speaker 5: there is no representation in the body of the US Senate,
Speaker 5: we have literally a US Senator standing and presiding over
Speaker 5: the Senate, and so certainly many of the legislative pieces
Speaker 5: of legislation that she has introduced and authored and champion,
Speaker 5: you know, you know, it's something about a full circle
Speaker 5: moment that there may be times where she's the deciding
Speaker 5: vote to be able to move that legislation from her,
Speaker 5: you know, standing with Senator Corey Booker very clear about
Speaker 5: a discussion around racial disparities around COVID nineteen, the discussion
Speaker 5: around anti the trying to roll back old law around
Speaker 5: anti lynching, to her talking about black women in fibroids
Speaker 5: and the innovations around black women and infmortality and prenatal care.
Speaker 5: Those identities allow her to in the spirit of Maya
Speaker 5: Angela's poem Grandmothers, there's a Stanza a line that says,
Speaker 5: I come as one, but I stand as ten thousand,
Speaker 5: and that is certainly, you know, what we're excited about seeing,
Speaker 5: you know, our new Vice president do to bring all
Speaker 5: of the lived experiences she has as well as her
Speaker 5: for qualifications at a time that we are at the
Speaker 5: height of racial tensions during my generation, and a discussion
Speaker 5: around how do we move beyond COVID recover, survive, recover,
Speaker 5: and thrive beyond COVID nineteen, particularly when the very communities
Speaker 5: that she comes from have been disroportionately impacted back that.
Speaker 5: So we are definitely excited about this opportunity, but recognizing
Speaker 5: that our work has not finished and we need to
Speaker 5: accelerate the work around black women's elected leadership beyond twenty twenty.
Speaker 4: Now. Higher Heights has been around for nearly a decade, now,
Speaker 4: is that right?
Speaker 2: I know we were just planning that. We're like, it's
Speaker 2: a decade.
Speaker 4: Wow, Well, congratulations. Listen, we love entrepreneurs here and especially
Speaker 4: in the space that you guys in, so thank you
Speaker 4: so much for that it congrats. Take a moment to
Speaker 4: you know, accept the shine and all the work that
Speaker 4: you've accomplished. Do you feel more of a sense of
Speaker 4: urgency now than you did when you founded Higher Heights? Mean,
Speaker 4: this is like you said, this is a I mean
Speaker 4: all that there's so many things going on, it's too much.
Speaker 4: There's the race, I mean you say tension, but it
Speaker 4: is it feels like a civil wars bubbling under the surface.
Speaker 4: I mean, and there's an economic crisis, and of course
Speaker 4: Black Americans it feels like financially and health wise have
Speaker 4: been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic. What does that feel
Speaker 4: like to you? Do you feel like there's more of
Speaker 4: a sense of urgency around getting more power, getting more
Speaker 4: influence in politics and why what sort of are the
Speaker 4: platforms or the issues that are most important to higher
Speaker 4: heights now?
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 5: You know, Kimberly Peeler Allen, the other co founder, and
Speaker 5: I too, black women who happened to work in politics.
Speaker 5: But everyday black women sat in a Brooklyn cafe literally
Speaker 5: ten years this February and we actually Kimberly came to
Speaker 5: coffeecause I was trying to figure out my next career
Speaker 5: move within that, you know, I had grown some frustration
Speaker 5: around particularly progressive politics, which is what we worked in
Speaker 5: at the time, and being in rooms that were dominantly white,
Speaker 5: dominantly you know, male, and you know, being looked at
Speaker 5: as like a unicorn, like like black black politically engaged women,
Speaker 5: you know, women who you know, write checks and volunteer
Speaker 5: in our vocal that we're this like black Unicorn and
Speaker 5: so out of event because you know, you sometimes we
Speaker 5: all will have event conversation with a girlfriend. We literally
Speaker 5: we should start our own organization, and we sat and
Speaker 5: kind of just chatted about what it looked like. We
Speaker 5: wrote the words Higher Heights down that day and spent
Speaker 5: a year and a half researching, like what would this
Speaker 5: look like? And we we wanted to see an organization
Speaker 5: we could see ourselves in, and so you accelerate the work,
Speaker 5: you know we have.
Speaker 2: You know, we're in a moment.
Speaker 5: One of our foundation principles is we want to create
Speaker 5: the environment for black.
Speaker 2: Men to vote, run, women lead.
Speaker 5: And I certainly think that some of the successes of
Speaker 5: Higher Heights that we're in a moment where you know,
Speaker 5: everyone is talking about black women's political power and leadership
Speaker 5: and celebrating our leadership. But we also recognize there's a
Speaker 5: lot of work to be done by the numbers, right,
Speaker 5: and so in one hundred and seventeenth Congress, we have
Speaker 5: twenty four black women serving, and so over the last
Speaker 5: couple of elections, sorry, twenty four black women and two
Speaker 5: non voting delegates. So in total, twenty five twenty six
Speaker 5: black women serving in the House of Representatives, and that's
Speaker 5: been a steady gain over the last ten years. We've
Speaker 5: seen a record number of black women run and win
Speaker 5: each year, but we've never elected a black woman to
Speaker 5: governor or, as I would say, we've never had a
Speaker 5: black woman's serve because for me, Stacy Abrams did win
Speaker 5: that twenty eighteen election cycle.
Speaker 4: Beauheart twinges every time. Yes, Stacy Abrams, we cannot have
Speaker 4: this conversation without mentioning her.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5: And you know, out of the two one hundred and
Speaker 5: sixty two women who serve in state legislatures across the
Speaker 5: current only three hundred and seventeen of them as the
Speaker 5: end of the year are black women.
Speaker 2: And we've seen a steady gain of black.
Speaker 5: Women running and winning as mayors of top one hundred cities,
Speaker 5: but we currently have six and so when you look
Speaker 5: at those and I've already said, there's zero black women
Speaker 5: in the US in it. And so there's still work
Speaker 5: to be done. And it's not that black women aren't running. Yes,
Speaker 5: we need more black women to run, frankly, from the
Speaker 5: local office, may it be school board, to city council,
Speaker 5: to some of your state legislatures or county.
Speaker 2: Black women are running.
Speaker 5: Be clear, there's still barriers access to navigating the political
Speaker 5: process and party early party and institutional support, raising money,
Speaker 5: and you know, still a discussion around what does electability
Speaker 5: look like like. You don't hear anyone using the word
Speaker 5: electability to white men, right.
Speaker 2: It is reserved for women and particularly women of color.
Speaker 5: And so we know that a Kamala Harris or a
Speaker 5: New York State Attorney General Tis James.
Speaker 2: They're actually the road maps.
Speaker 5: Not because you go, oh, I want to be a
Speaker 5: g now or I want to be the vice president,
Speaker 5: is the fact that they ran for local office. Letitia James,
Speaker 5: you know, was a New York City council member and
Speaker 5: her career projectory was to run for a higher office.
Speaker 5: Oftentimes it could be you are going to make you
Speaker 5: are going to have your maximum impact, like I said,
Speaker 5: on your town council. And so our work is to
Speaker 5: you know, help identify, help to inspire, train, and support
Speaker 5: black women. Our Political Action Committee currently supports women running
Speaker 5: for federal office, statewide executive office, and mayors of top
Speaker 5: hundred cities. But our network of black women across this
Speaker 5: country are elected or thinking about running for office at
Speaker 5: all levels and Frankly, many of our members are just
Speaker 5: like my best friend. They just want to be more
Speaker 5: civically engaged and grow into stretch in their political leadership,
Speaker 5: and that may be advocating on behalf of issue they
Speaker 5: care about. To their elected leaders, continue to help recruit, sorry,
Speaker 5: continue to help organize our community to the polls, and
Speaker 5: so we all should consider ourselves political leaders and then
Speaker 5: finding out what is the highest use of your time,
Speaker 5: talents and treasures to help move this democracy in this
Speaker 5: country to higher heights.
Speaker 4: I think what I know sadly about local politics is
Speaker 4: like parks and recreation. That was a really good show
Speaker 4: with a meere But honestly, ever since I told you
Speaker 4: a little bit when we were talking about the show
Speaker 4: my background, I bought a house a few a few
Speaker 4: years ago, and we live in a town and we've
Speaker 4: gotten to know our town councilmen and elected officials and
Speaker 4: they are so accessible and they've they're right here and
Speaker 4: it's kind of fun. My husband and I have gotten
Speaker 4: like we like to just email them and tell them
Speaker 4: about things that are going on. But let's talk about
Speaker 4: town council because that, to me is something that's really
Speaker 4: accessible for a lot of people looking for an entryway,
Speaker 4: a pathway into political leadership in their communities. But what
Speaker 4: kind of power is there in the town council to
Speaker 4: drive change that can really impact black communities? And what's
Speaker 4: that stake if we don't start having more diverse leadership
Speaker 4: at that level. If you can talk a little bit
Speaker 4: about that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, our diverse decision making tables make better decisions.
Speaker 5: And so we are seeking to ensure that black women's
Speaker 5: voices are heard at all levels. And as you know, frankly,
Speaker 5: local elected office has a more direct and immediate impact.
Speaker 2: On your day to day lives.
Speaker 5: I use an example like my I have a earlier
Speaker 5: in my career, I had a lot of friends that say,
Speaker 5: you know, I don't do politics, and I certainly believe
Speaker 5: we have a bunch of our networks that still say
Speaker 5: I don't do politics. And I give an example that
Speaker 5: you know, almost everything is tied to a public policy
Speaker 5: or a poor public dollar. And I usually use an
Speaker 5: example that in most places in the United States, we
Speaker 5: all have street lights, and so certainly when that street
Speaker 5: light goes out, there's a discussion around who do you
Speaker 5: you know, how do we advocate to make sure we
Speaker 5: have street lights, making sure that street light is on,
Speaker 5: and that is also tied to most likely a public
Speaker 5: policy or a public dollar. And those public dollars in
Speaker 5: public policies are tied.
Speaker 2: To an elected official that you voted for or not
Speaker 2: voted for.
Speaker 5: And so the work of you know, strengthening you know,
Speaker 5: our government is beyond the voting booth. Right, democracy doesn't
Speaker 5: begin in on election day. It actually begins, and so
Speaker 5: we need to all be active citizens in not only
Speaker 5: holding our elected officials accountable, but frankly creating the environment
Speaker 5: for our champions to push innovation in public policy and
Speaker 5: public budget processes.
Speaker 4: So what does that look like, you know, for someone
Speaker 4: who's listening at home and see something in their town
Speaker 4: that they don't like or wants to take action, do
Speaker 4: you just I mean literally, how do you get involved
Speaker 4: in the town council? Like? Do you just go to
Speaker 4: what is it town hall and say Hi, I would
Speaker 4: like to get on the ballot, or you know, I
Speaker 4: just break it down because this is just the level
Speaker 4: of detail that it's that access to knowledge of how
Speaker 4: things happen that you know, I'm certainly lacking, and I
Speaker 4: think a lot of other folks will be too.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: So if you're you know, someone who's not thinking about
Speaker 5: running for office, but just want to be more actively engaged,
Speaker 5: it is attending town halls, in town council meetings or
Speaker 5: what a city council meet, whatever level.
Speaker 2: It is lobbying your elected officials.
Speaker 5: And so that is you know, I'm still I spent
Speaker 5: six years working for the New York State Legislature as
Speaker 5: a chief of staff, and you know, you know.
Speaker 2: The member I used to work for.
Speaker 5: We would say the squeaky wheel gets the oil right,
Speaker 5: and often people in our you know, people believe that
Speaker 5: the squeaky oil is wealthy people and people that are connected. Yes,
Speaker 5: they do have access, but frankly, votes matter to elected
Speaker 5: the leaders. So when you are now looking about an
Speaker 5: issue and you're getting hundreds or thousands of letters or
Speaker 5: emails or tweets on an issue, it makes your elected
Speaker 5: officials pay attention and you're opening up a dialogue. You
Speaker 5: ought to be well one, We ought to know who
Speaker 5: our elected officials are so that we can, you know,
Speaker 5: pay attention not only during voting time, but during during
Speaker 5: governing times. And frankly, if you are passionate about an issue,
Speaker 5: it is connecting with the elected officials. Again, when I
Speaker 5: used to work for the state legislature, there are several
Speaker 5: pieces of legislation that the senator I worked for introduced
Speaker 5: because he had a conversation with a constituent who either
Speaker 5: had something that they were inspired by or something they
Speaker 5: were upset about. And so as a regular everyday you know,
Speaker 5: citizen not running for office or governing, you can impact
Speaker 5: and you know, help author and move policy. And then finally,
Speaker 5: if you're thinking about running for office, you know there
Speaker 5: are a ton of training programs. Higher Heights just hosted
Speaker 5: our first boot camp of the year and a half
Speaker 5: day training. But our partners like Emerge in Emily's List,
Speaker 5: the Black Campaign School, from the Collective Pack, they all
Speaker 5: have you know nowadays, all have online programming. And what's
Speaker 5: great about that we've always done online training is that
Speaker 5: one of the one of the obstacles that the research
Speaker 5: from the Center for American Women in Politics have pointed
Speaker 5: out is that women aren't encouraged to run for office,
Speaker 5: but women of color and particularly black women oftentimes are
Speaker 5: discouraged from running for office.
Speaker 2: So sometimes doing physical trainings or.
Speaker 5: Starting to talk about your thinking about running for office,
Speaker 5: that you don't want those those people who will be
Speaker 5: the naysayers before you even have thought this through. And
Speaker 5: so frankly being able to you know, spend a little
Speaker 5: quiet time in a corner in your home with you,
Speaker 5: you know, watching a webinar to really determine if running
Speaker 5: for office is again the best use of your you know, time,
Speaker 5: talents and treasures. And so I would always encourage people,
Speaker 5: if you think about running for office, to take any
Speaker 5: of the amazing trainings, most of them are free. And
Speaker 5: I would also encourage, as you know, we are in
Speaker 5: a environment whe everybody say, oh, I want to run
Speaker 5: for office. Not every one of us need to run
Speaker 5: for office. And so it's determining what is you know
Speaker 5: what what how do you want to make an impact
Speaker 5: in your community and that may be, like I said,
Speaker 5: strengthening your leadership roles outside of government, you know, considering
Speaker 5: running for office, or frankly being the person that recruits
Speaker 5: in recruits and encourages those to run for office.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, I think one of the I mean, obviously it's
Speaker 4: in the name of our podcast been ambition. It's it's
Speaker 4: crazy to me but so common. True ambition sometimes starts
Speaker 4: in quiet places where you're safe and you don't want
Speaker 4: to s say it out loud because you're afraid. You know,
Speaker 4: it takes courage, I think to stand up and say
Speaker 4: that I want something. You know, I I am ambitious
Speaker 4: enough to reach for a higher height. And you're right,
Speaker 4: there are people who will be those naysayers and or
Speaker 4: because I've never seen it before, they want to protect you,
Speaker 4: don't want you to get hurt, and you know, made
Speaker 4: dissuade you from that. So the work of the work
Speaker 4: of your organization is is wonderful in that way because
Speaker 4: you guys, it's and kind of describe how Higher Heights
Speaker 4: works is. I know that you guys have a political
Speaker 4: action Sorry, what's a pack? What does it stand for?
Speaker 2: Political action? Political Action Committee? Thank you?
Speaker 4: I watch MSNBC. So, yes, you guys, you you raise
Speaker 4: fund so that you can back candidates. What do you
Speaker 4: guys look like. We'll look at in candidates that you're
Speaker 4: looking to back and do you have to go looking
Speaker 4: pretty far and wide to find women of color out
Speaker 4: there to to to push into you know, higher office.
Speaker 2: No, so yet, we have a political Action Committee.
Speaker 5: Our committee is made up of board members and some
Speaker 5: community community members and so we solely, unapologetically support women
Speaker 5: that identify as black women who are running at the
Speaker 5: federal level, statewide executive and top mayors of top one
Speaker 5: hundred cities. And we, as you mentioned, yes, we do
Speaker 5: financially support candidates. We also encourage our members and our
Speaker 5: networks to support and fundraise for our candidates. And we
Speaker 5: then activate our community, our growing community, to volunteer. And
Speaker 5: so in COVID nineteen, there are a couple of things
Speaker 5: that I think that have come out that have allowed
Speaker 5: us to many organizations and programs to expand. Is the
Speaker 5: notion of being able to be anywhere across the country
Speaker 5: and being inspired by someone running for office and being
Speaker 5: able to volunteer by making phone calls or texting neighbors
Speaker 5: and texting voters in that district, and frankly hosting virtual
Speaker 5: fundraisers that you could literally sit in your house, in your.
Speaker 2: Across the country.
Speaker 5: And so we helped to connect our our members to
Speaker 5: volunteer opportunities. We host volunteer opportunities the cycle we you
Speaker 5: know called across you know our you know sixteen black
Speaker 5: women that were on the general ballot, you know, shy
Speaker 5: of a you know, a thousand calls and texts and
Speaker 5: for them. It is That is how you win elections, right,
Speaker 5: You build, you build an infrastructure that helps you talk
Speaker 5: to and get your message out to voters. But you know,
Speaker 5: each year, you know we've, yes, we do reach out
Speaker 5: and go hey, Jane, you should consider running for office.
Speaker 2: But certainly, you know there's a growing interest and we
Speaker 2: were in daily dialogue.
Speaker 5: With women running for office and frankly running for office
Speaker 5: that our Political Action Committee may not support, but all
Speaker 5: of our resource tools and our training support women running
Speaker 5: for office. I recently got it, like a tweet or
Speaker 5: a DM from someone that said you helped me win
Speaker 5: my election to town council. And you know my original
Speaker 5: action is like, well, we didn't support you, and she's like,
Speaker 5: you sure, did you create the space for me? I
Speaker 5: was quite you know, I was on, I was you know, engaged,
Speaker 5: and she felt that you know, for us, we're the
Speaker 5: political home that she had found a home that broadly
Speaker 5: supported her her candidacy and you know, you know, had
Speaker 5: access to the tools that not only were tactical tools,
Speaker 5: but also just the ability, like you said, the naysay
Speaker 5: being the place like you can do this, that support mechanism,
Speaker 5: and you know that's one of the things that you know,
Speaker 5: Kimberly and I are very proud at Kamala Harris once
Speaker 5: said to us in twenty eighteen, and she's, you know,
Speaker 5: been a great you know, governing partner and partner in
Speaker 5: this work. Is that did you know? And again it's
Speaker 5: been ten years. We felt like it was the longest
Speaker 5: ten years. There were years where you know, people didn't
Speaker 5: think they got the vision of the organization. Those same
Speaker 5: people are like, you know all in now is Kamala said,
Speaker 5: did you know you were going to build an organization
Speaker 5: for a time as this? She was like, it may
Speaker 5: have not hit the benchmarks that you thought they were
Speaker 5: going to meet when when you thought they were supposed
Speaker 5: to be me, but you actually had a container to
Speaker 5: be able to harness this power since two frankly, since
Speaker 5: twenty sixteen.
Speaker 4: Right, I mean, it feels like part of you wants
Speaker 4: to I'll speak for myself. Part of me is a
Speaker 4: little jaded in the sense that oh, you thought, okay,
Speaker 4: so now black women are all that and everyone wants
Speaker 4: to lean into us and pour into us. And you know,
Speaker 4: I was laughing with Tiffany because we haven't gotten more
Speaker 4: podcast networks reaching out to us to partner with.
Speaker 2: Us until this summer.
Speaker 4: And I'm like, oh yeah, because you looked at your
Speaker 4: lineup and you realize there was something missing. And we've
Speaker 4: been here for five years doing it and independently, and
Speaker 4: it's like you said, you know, you put the work
Speaker 4: in and you're ready for the moment. And I guess
Speaker 4: part of me had to quickly put aside that little
Speaker 4: bit of cynicism, like where were you five years ago? Okay,
Speaker 4: you're here now, all right, I'll take advantage of the guilt.
Speaker 4: That's fine.
Speaker 5: Oh no, so you're part of my you know, I
Speaker 5: go through my moments of pettiness. Oh now you're here,
Speaker 5: Oh you want to meet? Oh you're taking my phone call?
Speaker 4: And I'll say it. Yeah, So we're looking to diversify it.
Speaker 4: I'm like, just and you know, if you own it,
Speaker 4: it's you know, I own it, you know what I mean, Like,
Speaker 4: just let it be known. Don't don't pretend like we've
Speaker 4: you know, all of a sudden you notice that we're
Speaker 4: here and that kind of thing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I had said I was playing off of
Speaker 5: I was like, black women are like the show or
Speaker 5: just the new black, right, So black women are the
Speaker 5: new black right, And so certainly we're leaning into the
Speaker 5: moment one for our allies who have recognized that black women,
Speaker 5: you know, black women govern and lead.
Speaker 2: I just think in a way that's inclusive.
Speaker 5: You know, we have a great supporter, a white woman
Speaker 5: who when we were talking about branding ourselves as a
Speaker 5: political home for black women, and she was like, I
Speaker 5: still see myself in that, right, And I was like, well,
Speaker 5: and that we didn't actually set out to go, let's
Speaker 5: make sure that everybody can.
Speaker 2: See themselves in the organization.
Speaker 5: And but because people feel that they're a space for them,
Speaker 5: I was like, that is just how black women navigate, right,
Speaker 5: It's how our grandmothers navigated. I mean there were certainly
Speaker 5: always a seat at my grandmother and mother's dinner table,
Speaker 5: right that if we brought somebody home, there was always
Speaker 5: enough food and enough space.
Speaker 2: And I think that's how black women lead.
Speaker 5: Right, is that we don't have a defined you know,
Speaker 5: there's only a set amount of.
Speaker 2: Chairs, and that we you know that it's closed.
Speaker 5: That that is actually I think because we were locked
Speaker 5: out of those tables and those chairs, we are ensuring
Speaker 5: that we're unifiers and that there's space. And I'll even
Speaker 5: give you an example of how I now read Shirley
Speaker 5: Chisholms quote about if there's not a seat at the table,
Speaker 5: bring your folding chair. And so there's some debate about
Speaker 5: well I shouldn't have to scoop myself up to the
Speaker 5: table because of folding chair. I was like, well, how
Speaker 5: if we envision What she was saying is that if
Speaker 5: you envision that the table is big enough, there's enough seat,
Speaker 5: you can bring enough seats at that table. If we
Speaker 5: continue to believe that the seat the table is already
Speaker 5: set and that we have to fight and push people
Speaker 5: like be clear that some people were pushing out of
Speaker 5: chairs like I am, I'm not apologic, Like sorry, this
Speaker 5: is still political science, and politics is that you know,
Speaker 5: we are definitely tapping on several people's chairs, going it's
Speaker 5: time for you to go. But if we're really gonna
Speaker 5: like move past this like this, this toxic moment, we
Speaker 5: have to be able to say that black women are
Speaker 5: building different tables in how those tables are set.
Speaker 4: Up, right, It's not even about bringing your own chair.
Speaker 4: It can be just okay, well you'll have your table.
Speaker 4: We're just gonna make our own table and put it
Speaker 4: in the same room nearby adjacent. Yeah, I love that,
Speaker 4: just to kind of round out this conversation. I feel
Speaker 4: and I felt like many people, I imagine, so adrenalized
Speaker 4: by this year and so devoted to keeping the momentum going.
Speaker 4: And I'm wondering, from your perspective, what does that look like,
Speaker 4: because I would hate for the progress that we've seen.
Speaker 4: You know, people in my family in Atlanta got registered
Speaker 4: for the first first time, you know, voted in their
Speaker 4: first Senate runoff campaign. Ever, you know, this past January,
Speaker 4: it's we're still in January, nevermind this year and and
Speaker 4: I I, you know, I wonder, how do we how
Speaker 4: do we maintain and this attention? How do we keep
Speaker 4: people fired up? You know, we had to really I
Speaker 4: get it when it's it felt like life or death
Speaker 4: this election cycle. You know, we really had to get
Speaker 4: out there. But yeah, how do you how do you
Speaker 4: harness that momentum? And what can people be doing now?
Speaker 4: Even though the general election's over and we're we're in
Speaker 4: a bit of a I don't know, I hate to
Speaker 4: say a place where we can be safe because we
Speaker 4: just had a ride on the Capitol. But we're past
Speaker 4: a big hurdle in terms of the general election, how
Speaker 4: do we how do we keep that momentum going.
Speaker 5: I certainly believe that there's a lot of work to
Speaker 5: be done. One you know, at the end of the year,
Speaker 5: we sat and talked about what does next steps look
Speaker 5: like for say, higher heights, and so we are definitely
Speaker 5: taking the lessons learned from the first ten year. And
Speaker 5: it's about you know, Kimberly and I started this whole
Speaker 5: hashtag black Women Lead the Road to twenty twenty, Like
Speaker 5: in twenty sixteen that we knew that twenty twenty was
Speaker 5: a pivotal year for black women's political leadership. It is
Speaker 5: now beyond. It's now about the strategy beyond twenty twenty.
Speaker 5: And certainly we are deep diving and accelerating our work
Speaker 5: around electing black women to the US Senate, electing black
Speaker 5: women governeurs within s not one and certainly you know,
Speaker 5: ensuring that you know, our candidates are supported early by
Speaker 5: the broader masses. You know, oftentimes people jump on very
Speaker 5: late and go like I've been with Kamala from day one.
Speaker 5: I've been with Stacey Abrams from day one, and that
Speaker 5: actually isn't you if I get to write the history
Speaker 5: that is certainly not the case in the history books.
Speaker 5: And so how do we then identify the next you know,
Speaker 5: the next generation of leaders and that frankly, you know,
Speaker 5: starts with a multi generational approach. And then, you know,
Speaker 5: we don't elect black women for black women's sake. We
Speaker 5: believe that our leadership is a leadership that will build
Speaker 5: a policy platform that creates what I believe black women,
Speaker 5: what our research has pointed to our polling and our
Speaker 5: informal salon conversations, black women want economically thriving, educated, healthy
Speaker 5: and safe communities.
Speaker 2: So if you're looking at what do.
Speaker 5: We do beyond beyond the voting booth, it is ensuring
Speaker 5: that we're creating that environment, as I mentioned earlier, for
Speaker 5: our champions to push real innovation into our public policy
Speaker 5: making and to frankly, hold elected officials accountable. We can't
Speaker 5: just continue to elect elect amazing leaders who don't have
Speaker 5: the political support. Like the political support, right, It's all
Speaker 5: about political demand and political will, and that's the work
Speaker 5: of the people is to build the political will by
Speaker 5: flexing our political demand so that we can push policies
Speaker 5: that center our communities, our families, our communities, and our nation.
Speaker 4: Well, Glinda Karth, thank you so so much for joining
Speaker 4: Brown Ambition. This is a conversation I've been looking forward
Speaker 4: to for weeks and I'm so honored that you took
Speaker 4: some time to spend with us.
Speaker 2: No problem, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 4: Where can folks find out more about Higher Heights and
Speaker 4: get involved?
Speaker 5: Yeah, so we need black women and our allies to
Speaker 5: grow this movement building moment, and so as we celebrate,
Speaker 5: you know, continue to celebrate the swearing in of Kamala Harris.
Speaker 5: I mean we even though the inauguration completely different than
Speaker 5: what we thought it was going to be in to
Speaker 5: be from both a health perspective and a safety perspective, we.
Speaker 2: Are centering joy.
Speaker 5: So we are we have been celebrating and have hosted
Speaker 5: a variety of virtual events celebrating this moment. But we're
Speaker 5: still going to build. So go to Higher Heightsfoamerica dot org.
Speaker 5: It takes a click to become an activist member that
Speaker 5: will plug you into all of the programming and frankly
Speaker 5: information and data and then you know, we'll work you
Speaker 5: up the leadership, life matter to a variety of things.
Speaker 2: So you might be sitting here going I'm just going
Speaker 2: to be a member, and the.
Speaker 5: Next thing you know, in a year, you're running for
Speaker 5: office with higher heights.
Speaker 4: Next thing you know, you show up at a virtual
Speaker 4: brunch and you're putting yourself on a belllet got it. Well, Glinda,
Speaker 4: thank you, thank you. Think you can't thank you enough,
Speaker 4: and for all the work you've done. Congratulations on nearly
Speaker 4: a decade of higher heights. It's wonderful, great, and we look.
Speaker 5: Forward to being in contact and in conversation about what
Speaker 5: we have planned for the next ten years.
Speaker 4: Do you get the whole Wizard of Oz thing alive?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I work it so Wizard of Oz. My
Speaker 5: middle brother is a Wizard of Oz fanatic. He's probably
Speaker 5: seen it over a hundred times, and so oftentimes I accident.
Speaker 2: And I also have all types of things.
Speaker 5: I bring into my speeches around I used to wear
Speaker 5: red shoes all the time, So this whole thing around
Speaker 5: red shoes and.
Speaker 2: It's a big deal.
Speaker 5: Like there's a Glinda the Goodwitch.
Speaker 2: So two things.
Speaker 5: My name is g l y n das said the
Speaker 5: same way, but Glinda the Good Witch is.
Speaker 2: G l I n d A.
Speaker 5: And if you're with if you're an Oz fan, I
Speaker 5: mean it's no Wicked. If you're a Wicked fan, it's Glinda,
Speaker 5: but we usually bring the Wizard of Oz into some
Speaker 5: of our conversations because Glinda the Goodwitch once said to
Speaker 5: Dorothy when asked why she couldn't make it home, She's like,
Speaker 5: you know, dear, You've always had the power.
Speaker 2: You just needed to know that you had it. And
Speaker 2: that's certainly. You know, the work of.
Speaker 5: Higher Heights is, you know, providing a space for black
Speaker 5: women to step into their leadership, expand their leadership, and
Speaker 5: frankly recognize the power that we have in our democracy.
Speaker 4: I love that. I'm going to keep that as a
Speaker 4: little bonus for the end of the episode, the story
Speaker 4: behind Glinda.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, what an awesome, empowering throwback. It was
Speaker 1: such so fun to make a trip down memory lane.
Speaker 1: So make sure that you check out Brown and Bish
Speaker 1: and we are here every Monday for the Throwback, every
Speaker 1: Wednesday for the Bang Show, and every Friday for the
Speaker 1: ba Qa Okay,