The Suburban Women Problem - Episode 12
Jasmine: Hi everyone. Thanks for listening. I'm Jasmine Clark.
Amanda: I'm Amanda Weinstein.
Rachel: I'm Rachel Vindman.
Jasmine: And this is the Suburban Women Problem. Thank you for joining us. Today, we're going to chat with Maya Guy, a suburban mom from Virginia who recently decided to run for school board. And then after that, I get a chance to talk with Nan Whaley. Nan has been the mayor of Dayton, Ohio since 2013 and she's now running for governor of Ohio.
Both Maya and Nan decided to take the next step, just like I did a few years ago when I decided to run for state representative here in Georgia. And there are a lot of reasons we might run for office or decide to take another big step in our community, but it often comes down to what's happening around us, in our family and in our neighborhoods.
And so, speaking of which, Amanda, on top of everything else going on in your community, another upsetting event just happened. Could you tell us about that?
Amanda: Always, yes. So, a friend, a fellow mom, a neighbor, you know, went to our council meeting to support a proposal for community conversations about race and part of our reasoning was that there are a lot of unconscious and implicit biases that can have real impacts on people. So, a personal example she gave was when she and her son, who is six years old, were canvasing our neighborhood, going door to door, handing out campaign flyers, and they turned the corner and her six-year-old found three cop cars waiting for him. And her six-year-old is multiracial. He has brown skin. When she canvassed with her daughter who is white, no cops were ever called.
And so, she wanted to talk about this event to talk about how these implicit biases can have real consequences for people. And at the next council meeting, almost as retribution, the council member played the 911 call and the council member basically said, it's not that big of a deal. Jasmine, I know your experiences as a mom are different than mine. What has been your experience? And is it not that big of a deal?
Jasmine: It is definitely a big deal. I had a similar situation— it didn't involve cops, but it definitely involved my daughter being profiled basically by other neighbors. And so, I'm sure everyone's heard of the infamous NextDoor app. My daughter's face was basically on a video on this NextDoor app. And I just happened to be scrolling and I'm like, “Oh my gosh, that's my child.” And the caption to the video is basically like “there are these kids going door to door, putting things on the door. I've never seen this before.” And, then of course the comments are like, “Oh yeah, that's a common tactic for casing the neighborhood.”
And I'm like, “you all, she has on a shirt that is clearly a campaign shirt. On the video, she identifies herself and she says exactly what she is doing. In her hand, in the video, you can see that she is passing out campaign literature.”
Rachel: Wow, what an elaborate ruse. She really, this is, this is quite the setup. She brought all the props.
Jasmine: Exactly. This is not like some elaborate scheme to case the neighborhood. It's an election season and people are canvassing. And this is what canvassers do. As a mom of both a black girl and a black boy, I can honestly say it's really exhausting sometimes, you know, just existing.
Rachel: These are the kind of event that you see on NextDoor, whether it's your child or not, or, you know, you hear the story of your friend, Amanda, that really spark you into taking action and to doing something else. Getting more involved in any way that you can.
You know, recently my husband met with a representative, Andy Kim, who has just been a really kind supporter. They have sort of a similar national security background and he, you know, told a different side to running for office to Alex. And he said running for office was a way that he saw he could continue to serve his country. And he really counts it as that. He feels like what he's doing is just so, so important.
Amanda: I know a lot of veterans like my husband view political office as a way to continue their service to the country. And he sees it as being able to— I love how Jasmine one time you said “it's about solving problems," right? And so, he sees this as very solution oriented, solving a problem to serve his community, just like he did in the military. And I know a lot of vets think like that. And that's why you have organizations like Vote Vets to support veterans.
So Jasmine, what sparked you to take the next step to run for office?
Jasmine: I decided to run for office to bring a science voice to the Georgia state legislature, that was like my, my, my catalyst. That's what got me there. But once I was there, I realized that there were so many things that I could affect change for not just myself and my own family, but for my neighbors, for my community. You know, I wanted to affect change some ways there were, I saw problems, I wanted to be a problem solver. And running for office was one way that I felt that I could do that.
Rachel: You know, I think that's great that you had the, that confidence that you can make a difference. That you could do it. I think a lot of times women sort of talk themselves out of it. Like maybe they're thinking “that's going to be a huge commitment and I already have so many commitments. I already have so much to do.”
But we can run ourselves as women, or we can walk alongside them. And, you know, women who want to run for office, whether it's school board, a state elected official or whatever the case, we can really support them. You know? I mean, there's a lot that goes into it, campaigns… and I don't even know, you guys know this much more than me. You know what, maybe it's like taking a meal and saying, “I know you didn't have time to cook for your family tonight. So, here's a meal, and now you can spend some more time, you know, writing emails or maybe just relaxing with your family.”
But I think there's a lot of ways and women are really good at it. We are really good at mobilizing and helping each other. And I think that we shouldn’t, you know, select ourselves out of an opportunity for these kinds of fears. Cause there are ways around it.
Amanda: Absolutely. It's so important for women to be in office and to help other women in office. And the truth is the research shows women govern differently than men do.
Women tend to be more collaborative and bipartisan, they push for more policies that tackle issues that are close to home, issues like childcare, education, paid family, leave retirement security, domestic violence, sexual harassment, and assault in the military. Thank you, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand for that one. So that's an issue I care a lot about.
We're more than half the population. We have, you know, ideas about where we want to see our country go, but we're only 27% of legislators in the House and Senate. And if you look at women of color, then we're down to 9%. And I think Jasmine, the story you just said, it's important to have women of color… your experience as a mom is not mine. And so, we need need women and women of color to be an office.
Jasmine: Absolutely. I definitely agree that we need women. And one of the things that you just said, Amanda, that makes a lot of sense, is that the, the list of things that you said women would likely propose a lot of those things, aren't just for women. They help everybody. When women are in office, they propose policies that are helpful to all.
And at least, if you have women in the room too, you just get more ideas and I don't see any issue with having more ideas, more voices in the room when we're trying to find solutions to a problem.
Amanda: Yeah. So, I was looking up the research because we have research on how women govern differently. And so then actually, Jasmine, you got me thinking, I'd be like, well, how do women of color govern differently? And I couldn't find any research on it. Because we don't even have enough to do the research. The sample size is just too small. You have to have a large sample size to do any type of quantitative research like this.
And then that just made me rethink again, like, oh my gosh, we don't even have enough women of color to really do a good study on like how they govern differently. Right. That's an issue. It's not just an issue for women. It's an issue for all of us.
Jasmine: That reminds me actually of a story. I don't know if I've told it before on the podcast, but it's a very interesting story.
When I first got elected to office, my mom said something to me. She said, “you know, I don't think I've ever met an elected official before.” She's like, “when I was growing up, we didn't have, you know, elected officials that looked like us.” And she’s like “you don't understand how immensely proud I am of you, not just because of your accomplishments, but just because you're showing me that this was even possible.”
And she said, “and not only that, but you have a daughter who is watching you and her mindset will be very different than my mindset growing up.” She said in her mind when she was growing up, people that looked like her did not run for office. They weren't politicians. Whereas my daughter now will gladly tell you, you know, loudly proclaim that she will be president one day. And in fact, she was she'll say now, if Kamala isn't the first female president, then she will be the first female president. I hope we have a female president before my daughter turns 35.
Rachel: Me too!
Jasmine: But you know, I mean, but this is something that's like on her radar that is completely possible. Whereas for my mom, you know, that was something that was completely impossible for someone like her to do. And so, I think that that's really important when we have representation.
But I also think that running for office is not the only thing that people can do to be involved. And there's a lot of other ways that people can be involved. Rachel, you mentioned helping someone else to run for office in any capacity, whether that's with your time, your talent or your treasure. And if you don't want to help a specific candidate, maybe there's a specific cause that you're really into where you can join one of those grassroots organizations and really affect change and whatever is really important to you. So, I don't want people to feel like running for office is like the only way.
Rachel: No, there's many ways. I was like this, you know, suburban mom who worked a part-time job at a kid’s store. And then, you know, my life changed, and I was offered lots of opportunities. This is what I decided to do, this podcast. This is authentic to me. This is something that I thought I could do justice to, that you know, was, was going to be genuine. And I think that's really critical, that you find something that you're interested in. And even if it's a little bit of a stretch, if you can be yourself and you can lend your talents to it. That's a really good place to start.
Amanda: I was actually thinking about this and Rachel, I was thinking about how you have said how people kind of attacked you saying that you didn't get involved until it affected your family. But underlying that is really the fact that a lot of political arguments don't talk about how it affects our families. And I think getting involved when it affects your family, it's like the perfect time to get involved! That attack, I was like, “no, that's actually really great,” right? Let's start talking about how this is affecting our families. Like that is what women have I feel like have wanted to talk about all along.
So, I tend to be more involved when I know it affects me, my family, my friends, my community. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. And I think that is the strength of women, you know, finding how this affects our families, how this affects our communities and using that kind of to stir, you know, our action.
So, one of my friends—who makes the best mimosas, by the way, Stephanie Brown James, also, one of the founders of The Collective PAC— recently said in an Ms. Magazine article, “if we as a country showcase and stress the importance of local and state government more than what we do, we would be able to bolster voter turnout.”
Jasmine: Yeah, absolutely. I love The Collective PAC because they are really good at reaching out to candidates of color. Amanda, one of the things that I've noticed in the, you know, short time that I've had the pleasure of knowing you as we've been doing the podcast is that you attend a lot of your school board meetings. And I think that's also important.
So that's something that we haven't really talked about. Yeah you can run for office or you can help a candidate, or yeah, you can join a grassroots organization, but sometimes what we actually need is for people to show up. I think sometimes the loudest voice in the room is not necessarily the voice of the majority, but because they're the squeaky wheel, they do get the oil.
And so, we need other people to not just be upset on Facebook. It really takes everyone showing up to these meetings as well. So, I think that's another way that you can get involved without necessarily putting your name on a ballot.
Amanda: That's a good point. So, to me, one of the best and worst things about government is that elected officials really do listen to their constituents who show up. Right? So, which is great. That means you just have to show up and say, look, most of us support this. They support this policy. They support what you're doing. We want to know, you know, we've got your back and then it lets them do the policy that's the best for our community, not just the policy that the loudest voice was yelling about.
Jasmine: All right. So, let's talk to another mom who decided to take her involvement to the next level by running for her local school board in Stafford, Virginia. Hi, Maya, welcome to the Suburban Women Problem.
Maya Guy: Hello, thank you for having me.
Amanda: We are so glad to have you. So, Maya you've been active in your community for a while.
Could you start by telling us about your Facebook group and the local activism you were doing before you decided to run for school board?
Maya Guy: Sure, my Facebook group started back in, I believe it was August of last year, just as sort of a joke, but like I needed to safe space to get away from the misogyny and racism that I believed was going to be out in the ether because of Senator Harris being the vice president elect.
So, I started the group. It was just for me and a few of my friends and overnight I had a thousand people, who I didn’t— I only knew 10 in the group. And then the next week we had 50,000 people and within a month we had 100,000 and now it's a little bit over 200,000. It's kind of stayed there. So that's my group.
And the activism I've been doing in my area, I live in Virginia, it's just been local. That's just been to help with the students in our schools and to move the school board along with issues that I think marginalized individuals get left out of some conversations. And I try to be their voice.
Rachel: So, you decided to take that next step and run for school board. What made you decide to do that?
Maya Guy: I had been asked a bunch of times by a bunch of people if I was gonna run. Even some political parties were like, “Hey, you should get into politics.” And I'm like, “No, because I don't like to be fake. And I'm not going to tell you what you want to hear.”
You know, I just knew that I wasn't the type of person that should be in politics, but once I realized that there's nobody else who cares about my community the way I do, and there's nobody else that's doing what I'm doing, I just, there's no option. Right? If you care, you got to put your money where your mouth is and you gotta, you gotta step up. And I care. And so, I just, I had to do it.
Rachel: Oh, I love that. Maya tell us, if you could tell people, like you had a group of a hundred women, they were sitting there and they were like, what do we do? How do we help you? What are the top three things you would say, I need help with this…?
Maya Guy: I need your financial donations. Like local people who are running for office need money more than the people who are running for president and the people who were running for Senate. They got money. They got PACs. They got deep pockets, but us regular people… I’m a one income person, like my husband works, I don't, we've got five kids. So, I need help financially. And I know that other people who are running for office, who would just regular people who work 9-5’s, they need help. So that's number one.
Number two, show up for things. And then the third thing I would say is to just do the work. Like, just put it in your head that I'm going to be uncomfortable or I'm going to be tired, but I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to join this board or I'm going to volunteer for this event. Because again, nothing changes if we just complain about it, and we don't actually become the change that we want.
Jasmine: Yeah. Here in Gwinnett County, Georgia, we pretty much had the same school board since like the sixties. It's really weird. If you think about that. We had people serving on our school board that were around when schools were still segregated. And so, it was really exciting. In 2018, we actually elected our first black school board member ever. And he was also LGBTQ. So, you know, a lot of first happened in that election with just the election of this one person. We need that. We don't need to have this homogenous group of people making very homogenous decisions.
And so, I applaud you Maya for deciding to run. Whether you know it or not, you're probably inspiring someone right now to take that leap and actually decide to run for office. We've talked a lot about people talking themselves out of things or feeling insecure about, you know, taking steps like that. And so, hearing your story is probably going to get someone to take that step and put their name on a ballot. So, I really appreciate that.
Maya Guy: Well, thank you. I really appreciate that.
I just want to encourage people to, you know, never talk yourself out of it. Don't listen to the thoughts in your head. We all, especially women tend to have those negative little thoughts in our head. My thought in my head is “I am a hot mess and hot mess is awesome.” Like I screw up every single dang day. My kids could tell you, they can write dissertations about it and… so what? Like, nobody is better than anybody, right? I'm sure if you go to some of your elected officials and go in their house, you'd be like, oh my God, this is dirty!
So, if we looked at everyone that way, I don't think anyone is more, you know, put together or better than myself. Like you might look better right now and maybe your bank account has more zeros, but inside you're slowly dying, like we all are.
Jasmine: I love this. Y’all are validating my life right now, because I'm like the view that you can see on my screen only shows a very small square of my very chaotic life outside of the screen. So, I mean, that's really everybody. Right? Like we, everybody has something that's going on in their life. No one is a hundred percent put together. That's not even humanly possible. And I think we have to be okay with that and know that we still need to make the decision to do the thing that we know we should be doing.
Instead of letting that little voice in our head talk us out of it. So, I, I love that and, you know, thank you so much Maya, for being with us today and for all the work you're doing.
After this is my interview with mayor, Nan Whaley, about running for governor of Ohio. That interview coming up after the break.
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Jasmine: Our guest today is a phenomenal woman who has been committed to public service for many years. She has served as the mayor of Dayton, Ohio since 2013 and she's now running for governor of Ohio. Nan Whaley, welcome to the Suburban Women Problem.
Nan Whaley: It is so great to be on. I've been watching, Jasmine, and listening to this for a while. So, it's like a huge honor to get to be on today.
Jasmine: Thank you. You and I are both in public service and I've told my story on the podcast about how I decided to run for state representative in Georgia in order to bring a science voice to policymaking to the table. So, can you tell us about why you first decided to get into politics and into public service?
Nan Whaley: Well, Jasmine, I have a science background too. I was actually a chemistry major in college, I'm a first-generation college grad, and when you’re first-generation college a lot of times your parents say like, “Okay, you know, business or science background.”, like you need to go get a degree that you can put right to work. And so that's why I have that major. And it was a great experience.
While I was in college I decided to like, just start volunteering at the democratic headquarters of Dayton. And I took a bus down to organize the college Democrats. But when I think about it, my parents really drove this decision for me because the like the very first memory I have as a child, and I've told this story around Ohio, is actually of the Reagan/Carter debate. I was born in 1976, the Reagan/Carter debates were in 1980. And I remember my mom being very upset and, you know, I can even remember the couch that was like a plaid 1970s couch in the living room. And I think that was my first memory because my mom was upset.
And I said, you know, "what's the matter?” And she was watching the Reagan/Carter debates and she said, “you know, Ronald Reagan is going to win this election and that's really bad for us.” And it was, it was true. A year later, my dad was laid off from General Motors. We, you know, went through really tough times in the eighties as, as working people. And my parents always have connected how politics and elections have consequences in our lives. And they’ve always instilled that in me. And so, I think that is something that has really driven me into public service and into like working hard for campaigns and working and working as an elected official.
Jasmine: So, you are already the mayor of Dayton and being a mayor is already a huge job. What made you decide to take that next step and run for Governor?
Nan Whaley: So, I know how to solve problems and the problems our state is facing because that's what I've already been doing as mayor. In Ohio, you know, they called the Ohio state house, the most corrupt state house in the country. And you know, they are completely out of touch. It's only about self-interest and self-dealing. They're not partnering with our communities. And you know, on a good day, they ignore us at the Ohio state house. And on a bad day, they actively try to undermine our communities.
Jasmine: Yeah. I know a little something about people in the state house not doing what's in the best interest of the people. It's a battle that I fight pretty much every day that I step into our state capitol, where, you know, I'm asking my colleagues across the aisle to just do the right thing. And it's so difficult sometimes. So, I applaud you for standing up and, you know, deciding to take your talent from a more local area to the state. Ohio deserves that.
Nan Whaley: Thank you, Jasmine.
Jasmine: Female Governors are pretty rare, unfortunately. Right here in Georgia, we're hoping to change that in our next election cycle as well, but you're actually the first gubernatorial candidate endorsed by Emily's List in this election cycle. So, I love Emily's List and how they support women candidates, and I was actually an Emily's List endorsed candidate as well in my state house race. So why is it so important that we elect more female governors?
Nan Whaley: Well first, let me say, I'd be so honored to be the first woman elected as governor of Ohio. As you've mentioned, Ohio has never elected a woman governor let alone we've even, we've never even nominated one to run in the governor's race in Ohio. So, you're a little ahead of us in Georgia around that.
But look, if we keep doing the same things over and over again and putting forward the same type of candidates over and over again, guess what? We're going to get the results. And that clearly isn't working for everyday Ohioans. I think we need to have a fresh new kind of leadership. And I think it's time, it's time to show that in, in the state of Ohio. So, you know, I am, I'm excited about this opportunity. I know. I know it's a little harder but it's so important. And I mean, I honestly, when I talk to people, Jasmine, they're amazed that we have never even run anybody in Ohio yet that's been a woman. So, the time is clearly past and it's time to change that here in Ohio.
Jasmine: Definitely. I agree. So, when I had to run for office here in Georgia, I ended up running both times against the prototypical like family man and all of his campaign material made sure that it featured his wife, as well as his children, he had a really big family, and that was juxtaposed next to me, I, you know, a single woman. And so I realized very quickly that I wasn't just running against him as an individual on our merits as who would be the best for the position, but I was actually running against him as a man doing what men “do.”
You know, looking at your race, it looks like you are also running against someone who's very similar to the guy that I ran against— that family guy, you know, persona. How are you approaching the race from the lens of like gender roles and expectations about demeanor?
Nan Whaley: Well, I mean, I’ve done this before as mayor of Dayton, right? You know, the top 200 cities in the country, there's only about 40 of us, maybe a little less than 40 of us, that are women. And so, I'm quite used to having to show a different kind of leadership than, or different vision of leadership than, what people are expecting.
And, you know, like you Jasmine were younger, right? So, a lot, I mean the women whose shoulders we stand on were actually women that had raised their children had like had their whole careers and then they ran for office. And what's really exciting right now is you have women that are younger, that are doing all of that and running, which is very, I think just a really exciting time for leadership and look, I think what I'm trying to do.
And I think, you know, my time as mayor of Dayton has shown, is that yeah, like we can have a different kind of leadership, but that is still, highly qualified leadership. It is a leadership that is tough, that can get stuff done. And actually isn't bogged down with the same old, same old stuff that's been going on in Ohio. I mean, look, if this leadership we've had had been working in Ohio, wouldn't be getting further behind. I think that’s the other point, we need to try something new. Ohio does deserve something better and, you know, having fresh, a fresh, different kind of leadership, I think is a great opportunity to say that.
Yes, you know, it requires people to think a little broader than what they're used to. But I love this state and believe in this state. And I think that they're open to new ideas. We just haven't even ever given them that choice in Ohio. And so, I think it's time now to give them that choice.
Jasmine: Yeah, that reminds me of here in Georgia. There were several people who have decided to run for office in districts that normally people just don't run in because it was just automatically assumed that you just wouldn't win there. So, it's like why waste the time and the energy? And what we found is that while some people didn't win, their races were a lot closer to than we expected and that some people actually won in places that they never thought they could win.
And it really came down to giving people the opportunity to make the choice, instead of making the choice for them by never even presenting the opportunity to the voters. And so, I definitely agree with you sometimes we need a change in pace and a change in face. We can't do that if the same old people are always running over and over and over again, and no one else ever even tries. Right. So, I love that.
So, we know Republicans have a suburban women problem. So, what do you think is their biggest problem right now when it comes to women?
Nan Whaley: Well, I mean, I think they're not listening to what's really happening in suburban communities. Right. You know, people are working longer hours. They're getting further and further behind, and they don't see real opportunities for their kids to stay near them. You know, once they grow up there, the opportunities seem to be outside the state of Ohio and look.
If you're in Ohio, the Republicans have been in charge for three decades here and you are getting further and further behind. And I think women that and see that that's not working for them. And I think that's the big opportunity for us as Democrats, particularly to really push this issue about how it doesn't have to be this way. And let me tell you, women are the first to see opportunity in this. And so, I think that's, I think that's the problem that the Republicans have. Particularly in Ohio.
I also think, look, women are not interested in extremist politics. They're really more interested in getting stuff done and interested in how it really affects their family and their community. And, you know the round the bend kind of attitude that the Republican party has taken has gotten very, very far away of what's going on and what is needed in our communities and our families. Every single day and so I think that's why they have this, as you call it, “Suburban Women Problem.”
Jasmine: Absolutely. I definitely think that the culture wars that they're waging is not winning them any suburban women voters. I think it's doing the exact opposite. It's opening some people's eyes to, “oh my goodness. What are you all doing?” And I think a lot of the things they think that suburban women are afraid of, we're just not afraid of. Those are not the things that scare us. We actually care about real, tangible, real life things that are really important to us. And they're just not listening.
Nan Whaley: No, they're not. The extremism going on is definitely not listening to women who are trying to, you know, be inclusive, recognize inclusivity as a strength and recognize the opportunity that equity brings for their children as well. So, they're missing that point for sure.
Jasmine: Absolutely. All right. So, there are lots of women listening right now. What would you say to those who might be thinking about running for office?
Nan Whaley: Do it. Just do it. There’re great organizations now. Like she should run. We mentioned Emily’s List. She Should Run is another. Like look, take the plunge. You know what I always tell women is a man who thinks about running for office, he can have like 20% of the credentials and he is like all in. And women, we like to make sure that we have all 100% ready to go.
Look, this, there is a leap when you run for office. Right. And some of, it is actually, my friends have actually said “running for office is like jumping off the diving board and not knowing if there's any water in the pool.” And that is true sometimes. Right? And women are very practical about that. But the, the opportunity to make a difference in your community as an elected official, because you're the one that knows what's going on in schools. If you decide to run for school board, you're the one that's reading what's happening every day in your city, that's affecting your family. And those experiences are so valuable to our elected office.
It is a sacrifice though. I'm not gonna sit here and say it is so easy— it isn’t. You're putting yourself out there in the public. And so, you know, I want to make sure people know, you have to have some thicker skin to do this work, but it can be so rewarding to make a difference in your community in this way.
And, you know, I have loved, I've been an elected office holder now for 16 years, and it's been truly the honor of my life to get to serve my community and really in some of its toughest days. And if you like that kind of work, g jump off the diving board. We need women to be active in this work.
Jasmine: Absolutely. I think people are often really surprised when I tell them that, like I had no idea that one day I would be an elected official. It's not something I planned for. It's not something I was groomed for. It was really something that I did out of a sense of duty. It was something I saw a need. And I said, who else to do, fulfill that need than me?
A lot of times, like you said, we'll go through this checklist of all the things we need to do, all the things we need to be before we will do something as big as running for office. But honestly, the only thing that you need to be as motivated, just do it. And I promise a lot of people will find that when they get into office, they're expecting all these people to just know all the things. And you realize like pretty much everyone's on the same level. And like, you know, and you might get in and find out you actually know a lot more about what's going on and the people who are already there.
Cause like you said, you are in the community, you talk to your neighbors, you pay attention to what's going on. You probably have a closer ear to the community, then the people who have been sitting in those positions for a really long time. And so, your voice is valuable. And I really think that women should not second guess themselves as much as we tend to do. We just want to make sure that it's the right thing for us. But I also think that if you just feel it, do it.
Nan Whaley: Exactly. I like that. If you just feel it, do it. That's right. That’s a great way to look at it.
Jasmine: All right. So as the governor of Ohio, what would be your priority?
Nan Whaley: Well, look, as I've said before even on this podcast today, you know, I think the people of Ohio deserve better, Jasmine.
Here's what we need for our state to truly thrive. We want your pay to go up, your cost to go down and actually have a government that looks out for people. In Ohio, people are working longer hours and their pay is not keeping up with them. We need the minimum wage to go up so people who work for a living aren't struggling to make ends meet. Ohio led the last manufacturing revolution, and we can do it again, but only if we have leaders who prioritize jobs and our future, not this self-dealing that's been going on in our Columbus state house.
We also need to invest in our kids, in the next generation of Ohio. We've made progress in Dayton where every kid now has access to high quality preschool if you're a three-year-old or a four-year-old, regardless of what zip code you live in. It's making a huge difference, both for opportunities, for childcare, for families, but also having quality preschool for our kids, make them more kindergarten ready. And that goes through their entire time as school children.
And finally, and probably most importantly in Ohio, we badly need ethics reform. Over the past three decades we've had the same corrupt politicians in Columbus who care more about extreme interests and lining their personal and political pockets than the folks who are trying to provide for their families and want their kids to have opportunities here in Ohio. The same people have been in charge for 30 years and Ohio is continuing to get further and further behind. It is so time for a change.
Jasmine: That's amazing. I love that you're focusing on real quality of life issues. All right. So now we're going to jump into some fun, rapid fire questions. Are you ready?
Nan Whaley: I'm ready.
Jasmine: All right. So, I saw a video on Twitter of you lip-syncing to The Jackal, like Allison Janney in the West Wing. If you had to lip sync another song, what would it be?
Nan Whaley: Okay. So, if you saw the video, you could probably see that I'm not really great at lip-syncing. Right. But I do like to go to karaoke bars when I am not running for governor and my favorite karaoke song, it’s a really old song, it's called “Harper Valley PTA” by Jeannie C. Riley. And it's about like women empowerment. I don't know if you know Jasmine, but it's about this woman. Who goes to her school board meeting, and they like really try to dress her down as a single mom. And she just takes them all to task in the small town. And so, I love the story of women's empowerment. It's what I like to do when I go to karaoke. And one time I even went $50 karaoke in that song. Fun fact.
Jasmine: That's amazing. So, I think it is no secret on the pod that I love karaoke as well.
Nan Whaley: Oh, you do? What's your favorite?
Jasmine: I'm a Proud Mary or Journey, Don’t Stop Believing. These are like my two, because I get to put on a full-blown show, air guitar, or like I'm rolling on the river for Proud Mary.
Nan Whaley: Oh, it's a great one. That's a great karaoke song.
Jasmine: It always gets the crowd really into it.
Nan Whaley: Yeah. That's awesome. That's awesome.
Jasmine: All right. Was your favorite 80s movie?
Nan Whaley: My favorite 80s movie was St. Elmo’s Fire. And you know, I like the John Hughes films. I liked St. Elmo's Fire. I try to watch it every few years. I have it on DVD.
Jasmine: Yeah! Like the Breakfast Club or the Goonies. Oh man, the other day I was watching TV and Turner & Hooch was on and I love that movie.
Nan Whaley: Okay. So, when we watched Turner & Hooch and like I'm from a small Indiana town and we went to the movie theater and it's like, everybody went to the movie on Fridays and it was the only, there's only one movie. And so, my brother and I went to see it and Hooch dies, you know, I hope I’m not giving anything up, but my brother screamed through the whole movie theater.
“No!”, like just this huge “no!”. And everybody was like, what is happening? Cause he was so upset about Hooch. That's a, that's a memory I have of my childhood.
Jasmine: Yeah. Oh, poor thing. I mean, that is sad though.
So what's your favorite thing about Ohio that many people may not know about it?
Nan Whaley: Okay. So, my favorite thing about Ohio, it is about Dayton, is that the Wright brothers are from Dayton and invented the airplane here. And I know that my friends in North Carolina tried to say that they invented the airport plane. They had really good wind. So, the brothers went down to North Carolina to catch the wind to make it fly, but the airplane was invented in Dayton. That's my favorite fact about Ohio.
Jasmine: I love it. A little Ohio/North Carolina rivalry. So, let's say Joe Biden is in town and you're going to get ice cream together because we all know that Joe Biden loves his ice cream. What flavor of ice cream are you choosing?
Nan Whaley: Ohio has some of the best ice cream in the country, and I think that's why Joe Biden comes to visit us so much. I mean, he's been here now three times in three months. And so, it depends on what city I'm in. If I'm in Cleveland, I go to Mitchell's and I get some mint chocolate. If I'm in Columbus, I had to Jeni's and get some salted Carmel. And if I'm in Cincinnati, I go to Graeter’s and get this black chocolate raspberry. So I have different kinds for each city because we are so about our ice cream in Ohio and the local ice cream folks do such an amazing job. It's like a fierce competition in Ohio about who has the best ice cream.
Jasmine: And now I feel like I need to come to Ohio and do some taste testing of all these amazing ice creams. All right. So, if you could choose one Hollywood celebrity to serve as your lieutenant governor, who would it be?
Nan Whaley: Tina Fey. I love her. I love her. I just want her to be lieutenant governor because I think she's super smart. She's so quick witted and like, just if she was my lieutenant governor, I get to hang out with her all the time. Right?
Jasmine: That would be fun. That would be probably an amazing Governor/Lieutenant Governor team.
Nan Whaley: Thank you, Jasmine.
Jasmine: All right, so that's it for our rapid-fire questions. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Nan Whaley: It's been a pleasure.
Jasmine: So where can people find you online?
Nan Whaley: So, check us out at nanwhaley.com. You know, we have our some of our policies there, some videos, and you can also follow me on Twitter @NanWhaley and I'm on Facebook as well, but yeah, hope you check us out and give us a like.
Jasmine: Love it. All right, it was so great talking to you today. Thank you again for being here on The Suburban Women Problem.
Nan Whaley: Thank you Jasmine, thank you for what you're doing.
BREAK
Amanda: Welcome back everyone. I am still so excited we were able to get Mayor Nan Whaley on the show. So, I lived in Dayton for about nine years, and we were actually stationed out there by Patterson Air Force Base for a while. And in the coronavirus pandemic—this is going to swing back to Dayton I swear—but three city council members in Akron, all women of color, brought to everyone's attention that Akron did not have a testing site downtown, near communities of color.
And it made me mad. So, when I get mad, I get data. So, I got the data on testing sites, on demographics, on public transit, and I mapped it out so people could see it. Visually see this map. And I mapped it for all of the cities in Ohio. I mapped it for Akron and Youngstown. And when you see it for Akron and Youngstown, it looks like they were trying to avoid communities of color when they decided on the locations of the testing sites.
And then I looked at Dayton, where Mayor Nan was. Dayton had more than one testing center downtown, near communities of color, and near public transportation.
Leadership matters. And it matters so much. Which is a long way of basically saying #NanFan.
Rachel: That's what we want. We want people who are going to take that first step and then that second step. And they're going to see that getting involved that they can make a difference.
Jasmine: Absolutely. That's why I really enjoyed talking to Nan. Our interview was amazing. She's so smart. We have a lot in common and so I'm really excited to hopefully see her as well as our candidate in Georgia. Hopefully, no announcement yet, but hopefully be one of the first elected women governors in the nation.
All right. So, with that we will now move on to the portion of our show where we do our Toast to Joy. Our Toast to Joy is our opportunity to just talk about something good that has happened to us during the week. And I look forward to hearing, you know, what good things are going on with y'all and I'll can't wait to share mine as well.
Rachel, what's your Toast to Joy this week?
Rachel: My Toast to Joy is taking time out to spend with family. Just continuing to make that a priority now, as things are getting busy and for us, especially it's, it's a busy time for my husband and me by proxy. So, you know, it's great to just… break break break, we're going to take the day off and go have some fun together. We joined some friends at the lake yesterday and just had so, so much fun. 2020 was kind of awful, but we learned a lot from it, and we need to take that time to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.
Amanda: That sounds so fun. I feel like lakes are underrated.
Rachel: I know. I love beaches and beaches are fabulous, but lakes are so underrated.
Jasmine: I love it. I think I'm still pro beach. I'm ocean all day. Sorry. Y'all.
Amanda: So, my Toast to Joy is to our educators. I have my daughter in a coding camp, and I have been so impressed with how they are, you know, starting cause he's seven, right? So, this is not like a teenager, she's seven years old, but I've been so impressed with how they're starting to teach her to code and about STEM type things. They always have a craft for her to do, which she adores crafts. They do it in such an engaging way that she loves it, and she has asked to continue to do it.
And so, I am so impressed with kind of how inclusive our educators are at taking something like STEM and making it accessible and fun to all ages. So, I've just been super impressed. And my toast to joy Is to our amazing and creative educators
Rachel: And to crafts not being done at home!
Amanda: Yes! No glitter at home. Haha.
Jasmine: Right. I actually have learned how to code by basically doing it backwards, like taking someone else's code and like being like, oh, when this happens, this is what, so probably the long way. And I probably would benefit from just going to your daughter’s camp. And no one should judge me that I am not seven because I just want to know how to code.
Amanda: All right, Jasmine, what's your Toast to Joy this week?
Jasmine: So, my Toast to Joy this week comes from a conversation I had with a really good friend. And what we talked about was turning our “whys” into “why nots.” Not talking ourselves out of things all the time. I am notorious for constantly talking myself out of doing something. You know, I'll say, “well, why should I do that?Or why would I go here?” And now I'm going to start asking myself, “well, why not? Why would I not take a coding class? Why would I not join an amazing podcast with amazing people and talk about real life issues?” And I think that that's really important. So, my Toast to Joy is honestly just grabbing by the horns a little bit and embracing that I don't have to talk myself out of every single thing that might bring me some type of joy.
Amanda: I love that.Why not?
Rachel: Yes. That's great. Why not?
Jasmine: Yes. Why not? Raise your glasses!
All right. So, thank you so much to everyone for joining. If you've enjoyed the podcast, please, please, please leave us a rating and a review. We'll see you again next week on another episode of the Suburban Women Problem.