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