Senior adviser Simone Sanders who offers her thoughts on how americans can use their voices for change. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining tonights virtual political page turners event hosted by institute of politics at the Mccourt School of Public Policy. My name is ashley poll articled, and i am a 2020 graduate where i receive my masters in Public Policy. Throughout hi time at georgetown, ive had an opportunity to participate both in person and virtual like fellow happy hours and speaker events. This spring i took a course with ted johnson titled 2020 path to the presidency where we dove into political theory and primary campaign strategy. Im looking forward to connecting topics explored in professor johnsons class with our discussions tonight. I am pleased to introduce our guest tonight, Simone Sanders, author of no, you shut up, as a fellow woman of color, i am encouraged by symones political leadership, passion for social change and representation in a space that has historically excluded women of color. She is a seasoned political strategist who, at 25, became the youngest president ial press secretary on record while working on u. S. Senator Bernie Sanders 2016 president ial campaign and was named to Rolling Stone magazines list of 16 Young Americans shaping the 2016 elections. Symone unapologetically fights for Justice Reform and paves the pathway for millennials to fight. We are thrilled to have her with us to discuss her new book, career path. During tonights event, please share your thoughts on social media and by tagging gu politics at gu politics. Tonights political page turners event will be moderated by executive director Moe Elleithee who is going to kick us off. Thanks so much for the introduction and congratulations on your graduation from the Mccourt School just like, what, 48 hours ago . Welcome to the gu alumni community. I want to welcome everyone whos tuning in. Everyone whos. Tuning in via social media platforms, twitter, facebook, youtube and to the members of the Georgetown Community who are participating via zoom. Im looking forward to getting to your questions as quickly as possible. Thats going to be an interesting conversation, itll be a fun conversation with probably one of the more interesting speakers weve had here. One piece of housekeeping before we get started, for those of you who are in the Georgetown Community participating via zoom, youll get a chance to ask your question. If you look at the bottom of the window, youll see the q a button. Click on that, and you can start to type in your questions, you can start to type them in now. As we transition to the student q and a portion, someone from the team will let you know when you are up, so keep an eye on the chat. Thats where youll, theyll tell you, and then once they tell you youre up, as we say in the business, be camera ready. Were going to make you famous. So with that, lets get started. I am very pleased to welcome back to gu politics Simone Sanders. By my count, i think this is your third time addressing [laughter] the first time on campus a couple years ago and most recently a couple days before the iowa caucus. Welcome back. Absolutely. Thank you, thank you. Im glad to be here. You know, i have yet to have the pleasure to be a fellow at gu politics, maybe i will, i will get that on my card post this election are. But i will have to tell you [inaudible] are you with georgetown . Were all one big, happy family. Im always glad to be here. These are busy days for you. Just slightly. Well get to that shortly. All right. You wrote a book. How the hell you wrote a book in the middle of a president ial campaign [laughter] and are out there, which its released tomorrow, so were one yes. Of the first to get a preview here tonight. So tell us a little bit about what motivated you to write the book. And im particularly interested in the title. [laughter] because, honestly, i cant imagine anyone telling you to shut up. I feel like id be tied the under my desk if i ever tried to say that to you. Well, moe, you are wise. Im really happy to be here with the gu politics family. I will tell you, i never thought of myself as a writer, you know . Im represented by united talents when i was a commentator on cnn, and someone from the Book Department came to me and theyre like people want to know if you wallet to do a book. I dont know want to do a book. I dont know what i would write about. But i ended up speaking with harpercollins, and a woman named sarah is my amazing ed editor. You would to have. She was like i think you need to write this book. I was like, sarah, i dont know. This was middle 2018, by the end of the year we settled on we were doing this book. We had a very ambitious timeline, they wanted a draft by spring 2019. And at the end of 2018, november 2018, i didnt think i was going on the campaign trail [laughter] obviously, in april i diseased to go and i decided to go and work for Vice President bidens president ial campaign. Most of my book was actually done, but i tell a couple stories about why i joined the campaign, my first disastrous tv interview. [laughter] im sure many people saw. But the title of the book is, no, you shut up. And the title comes from an interview i did on cnn. It was postcharlottesville, so we were having a conversation on cnns new day, and this was back when chris cuomo was on the morning show, so this was a while back. Now everyone knows chris has a 9 p. M. Show. This was in the morning around 7 30ish, it was the former attorney general of the virginia, Ken Cucinelli, and chris cuomo. We were having the conversation, you know, Ken Cucinelli was saying things that were not correct, and im like, thats not true. And chris cuomo said, well, explain what you mean, ken. And he started explaining, and he was talking about charlottesville and saying that, you know, it really just started because some people wanted a permit, and other folks were trying to make it something that it was not. This was after the images of neonazis, White Supremacists marching on the streets of charlottesville, virginia. And i jumped in and said now someones dead. And Ken Cucinelli and said, will you just shut up and let me speak. How do you get them to stop talking . They keep jumping in. Who is them and who is they . I never forgot being told to shut up before people had their cocoa puffs in the morning. I was embarrassed. I was incensed because i knew if i was, you know, 35 and, you know, my name was tommy, i probably wouldnt have been told to shut up on National Television by anyone, let alone a former attorney general of virginia. And so i always carried that with me, and i think that a lot of times [inaudible] the proverbial shut up. So that is what i talk about in the book, talking about so many of us have been given the proverbial shut up and now is a time where we need to speak up and not shut up. Is so i guess thank you, Ken Cucinelli, because without him, i would have not had a book title. Who would have thought you would say Ken Cucinelli was your inspiration. Who knew . I was doing the math this morning, when i did my first president ial campaign, you were, i think, in grade school. [laughter] probably. And i think back to how i was when i was in my early to mid 20s getting started. I was young and i was hungry, and i wanted to get into the game. When i kind of followed the steps that they say youre supposed to follow x what i really found i wish id read your book, you know, back then, because i think you give a lot of good advice to young people, and anybody who really hasnt had the opportunity to have their voice raised, advice on how to have it heard or at least how to set themselves up. And you do it very thematically. I want to touch on a couple of those themes today and then let you just kind of run with it. But one of the things that i thought was really interested, and this is later in the book, so im going to start later in the book and work my way back is this notion of get out alive. Yep. [laughter] yes. And i think you can read that chapter five. Chapter five. I think you can realize that a couple of way realize that a or couple of read that a couple of different ways. Talk about that a little bit and what that meant to you. You know, i think ive always been a habitual line are jumper, if you will. Im originally from omaha, nebraska, and its the second Congressional District that gave obama the blue dot in 2008. But the rest of nebraska is not necessarily a bastion of Democratic Politics. And so i knew for a really long time that i wanted to work in politics. I realized early on, shortly after i graduated, that im not going to, you know, get into National Politics staying in omaha, nebraska. I had you know, i didnt have the opportunity to participate in any of the programs that people get to participate in. I never interned for my congressman or my senator. I wasnt a boot camp fellow, so i had no in into, there were no natural avenues for me to really get into d. C. Politics. And so get out of line, that chapter, is really all about taking unconvention always like stepping out of lines. It could apply to politics, to education if you want to do something in your community. But i think especially for young people like me if you are a young person of color, someone who doesnt come from a lot of means, a woman, you have to be willing to you can be the best, you can be the smartest, you could, you know, have the best ideas out of everyone in the class, but whoevers the proverbial they is, and i literally waited in my career for somebody to pick me, we wouldnt be having this conversation, i wouldnt have written a book, and i wouldnt be super active. So getting out of line, i think, is necessary especially for young people. Its about taking a risk. So often times in that chapter i talk about how dr. King took risks. And i think a lot of times we gloss over how we remember reverend dr. Martin luther king jr. But the reality is he was a risk taker. He understood if he wanted to turn the tide of white people in the north to what was happening in the south and the fight for the right to vote, he had to make sure that they saw what was happening. So dr. King had black folks dress up in their sunday best and go down to the courthouse on a friday or a thursday and try to vote knowing that they would be beaten, that hoses would be siccedded on them, dogs would be siccedded on them. And had cameras there and the radios. It was the strategy. Dr. King had to take a risk. He had to get out of line in order to gain attention for his movement. So im all about getting out of line when necessary, ladies and gentlemen. But i just, i think it is absolutely pertinent especially for young people that want to, you know, do this its cool to be a changemaker now. When president obama got elected, everybody wanted to be a community organizer. Now everybody wants to be an activist and a changemaker. The reality is if you really want to create change, help move mountains, you have to be willing to use unconventional methods. When i give career advice to georgetown students, i always tell them, you know, youve got to be willing to put in the hard work, do the grunt work. Do the clips. Ive been the clips weave but at the same time, know what you want. You talk about that, knowing what i you want and asking for it. Even when you dont think its i attainable, to ask for it and to go get it. And i was really struck by the story you tell in the book about your first meeting with senator sanders when you were really new in the business. [laughter] i was fresh, okay . I had never worked a senator sanders was my first president ial. I think id worked maybe 4, 15 campaigns 14, 15 campaigns, but not a president ial, not a National Campaign at all. Talk about what that was like walking in and kind of getting the call out of the blue from jeff weaver saying that they wanted to talk, and you go in and you meet with senator sanders. What was that like . [laughter] you know, i tell in the book, yall have to read the book and catch the leadup, but i somehow find myself on my way to senator sanders office. Luckily, i had a blazer in my car. I was running around on the hill that day doing other meetings, no blazer. Senator sanders wants to meet you. Oh, grab the blazer. I go over to his office, i go into his office, and its just he and i. Were sitting down, you know, i crack a joke about the same last name, and then we talk about everything that you could imagine we talked about x. This was the summer of 2015. He asked me about nebraska, he asked me about the work that id done, and then he started talking about National Politics and his campaign and the news at the time. And then we ended up getting in an argument, basically. [laughter] if anyone has ever, hell often say, you know, you have a fundamental misunderstanding. And so we he told me i had a fundamental misunderstanding, and i said, well, i just with, i dont think you understand what im trying to say. And so he let me engage in a dialogue with him about Economic Policy and how it intertwines with other issues, its not just class and race. We ended up in a good place. So at the end of our conversation, i felt like we reconciled. It wasnt an argument anymore, and the senator told me that he liked me. He said i think i want you to work here. I was like i think i want to work here too. And then senator sanders asked me manager no one had something no one had asked me before, did i have an idea what i would like to do. And i said, yes, i would like to be the National Press secretary the, and i want to have a hand in some of the messaging strategy. Just like that. [laughter] and he laughed at me just like youre laughing, and he looked at me and he was like and i told him i wanted to do Cable Television. And he was like have you ever done Cable Television before . I said, no, sir, but i do believe i would be very good at it. That was a thursday. I get a call on a tuesday, and its jeff weaver telling me that i got the job. And not only do i have a job, im like whats my job title, jeff . He said National Press secretary. So i would say the lesson in that is, you know, everyone it is not every day, okay, that a sitting United States senator calls you and also happenings to be running for president and you happens to be running for president and then you go work on their campaign. So everybody does not have, like, a Bernie Sanders. But i think we all have a similar encounter. And the question is when your opportunity comes, do you have an answer. And how many times to the young people out there watching does someone can you what do you want for dinner. And you say, i dont know, im not sure. What kind of vegetable would you like for dinner. He was like, oh, i dont know. What kind of vegetables do you like . Hes like carrots and green beans and french fries. French frys not a vegetable, but he had an answer. And i think we always have to have an answer. Can ask what it is ask for what it is we want. And so many times we ask for things right up under the thing that we really want because we think that the thing we really want is just too much, moe, we cant ask for that. Its improper. Maybe we can work our way up to there. I want to shoot for the stars is so maybe i can land on the moon. So it is knowing what you want for dinner. And often times if somebody asks you what you want for dinner, you know. So just tell the people what you want for dinner. You might not get it, but maybe you will. Hey, we got some french fries today. Ask for what you want. [laughter] one of the themes in the book is, that strikes me as i listen to you talk, is this doesnt just apply to careers, it applies to making change, right . When you are out there as an advocate fighting forsome thaw yo for something that you believe in, right . Sort of shooting for the stars when it comes to making policy change or political change or, as you call chapter four, becoming a radical revolutionary yes. Right . That is about sort of shooting for the stars because otherwise you dont get this. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, look, i say this in the book, change cant wait, but change takes time. And you have to be willing our Campaign Manager says, always tells us we can do hard things. You have to be willing to do hard things. Radical revolutionaries, dr. King is a radical revolutionary. You, mo, are a radical revolutionary. There was no institute the of politics at georgetown the, okay . How did that come about . Some people got together and said is there a reason why we cannot do this too and maybe even better than some of the other people who do it in our own way with our own brand . Lets build something from the ground up. We have to figure out ways that we can be a radical revolutionary in our everyday places and spaces. Sometimes it means speak up, not letting something fly. Sometimes being a radical revolution their is about speaking somebody elses truth who is not in the room to do that for themself. Like, there are ways i wrote in the way, you know, my radical revolutionary contribution is campaigns. At one point in time i needed to be on cnn explaining to america, the world in some instances why people were on the street dying, why it was is so important that theyre doing x,y and z. Now it is my job to speak about what they can do to support these people. That thats my contribution. That might not be someone elses mission. Everybody needs to find their piece of the pie, but we try to be radical revolution nations because that is how we create change. Change cant wait, change takes time and change takes strategy. There would be no institute of politics at georgetown without a strategy. Just a reminder to the students that you can start to submit your questions by clicking on the q and a tab at the bottom of the