Gentlemen. Thank you all for coming out tonight. Before a introduce next guest we have cspan filling and this clearly broadcast on booktv. We do ask that you silence your cell phones and [laughter] also, since it is being filmed, the q a will need to be holding this microphone if you have a question. Once that starts i will be around with the microphone. Make sure before you speak that you have the microphone in your hand. I also want to mention we are having a fantastic event on sunday afternoon at 4 oclock. Kelly jensen will be here, she is the editor of a feminist essay collection called here we are. This is a collection for 12 enough. If you have a young feminist in your life, this is a fabulous collection. So come out and meet kelly. She will be with one of our incredible young adults writers in the hudson valley. Hope to see you again. Tonight, we are absolutely thrilled to welcome alyssa mastromonaco. [applause] her new book is who thought this was a good idea . And other questions you should have answers to work in the white house. She is chief operating officer at price meeting in williamsburg previously she served as assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for operations at the white house under president obama. Early in her career she was director scheduling for senator john kerry in the president ial campaign in 2004. And alyssa is on the board of trustees for the john f. Kennedy for the center of performing arts and contribute in editor at marie claire. She will be sending both immediately after she speaks. We have them available for purchase at the front desk of the store. Make sure to grab one before you go back. Please join me in welcoming alyssa mastromonaco. [applause] it is clear i picked very early. Anyway i thought i would read a little bit from the book and then we can do q a if that works for everyone. My selection tonight is over the years my parents let me hold my own hand. I think they always just hope that my sister and i would turn out to be good people. They did not care about how successful or prominent or wealthy we would be. For example, dance classes, the extracurricular choice, or parental pressure, for countless young girls no matter your generational era. I could tap, ballet and jazz from his 12 years, when i left for natural ability i made it for. I assumed if i was sweating i was succeeding. My sister, she was a really great dancer. As i got older i realized partially because i could see an example of someone who was so good unlike me, that i was investing a lot of time and hours each week and something i was not that good at. And not enjoying it all that much. It made me feel bad, i never had a solo. I never had a solo. [laughter] i was 16 years old when i finally told my mother i was going to quit. Although that is something that people are now taught never to do. But she did not flip out. She did lose her mind or berate me about having extracurriculars on my College Education or saying that i was dancing for song that should probably keep going. She said if it is okay if you do it responsibly quitting something is not benefiting you whether it is dance classes that everyone is taking or a job that has nothing to do with anything youre interested in, it can change your life. After i finished dance and did not sit around eating our leaders and cruising the highways of. I was first played in the band in school. I took french. I babysat for family demonstrate every saturday night and i also worked at. Back in the day. I would wrap flowers and wet paper towels in the newspapers to prepare them for the long trips back to the city with tourists every sunday. This wasnt some bushy barn. It was an actual barn. With power tools in a space heater. My best friend visited me every weekend and brought me super donuts or bagel. I left it there. I also had a job at the checker in iga. Old school. [laughter] a Grocery Store in the center of town. Anyone who has worked at kmart or walmart or the local Grocery Store may not believe in and say this but i really liked it. Sure, some days he deftly want to hang with your friends instead but i was really good at bagging groceries. And it meant that i could afford tickets to see fish or gone Straight Line or the grateful dead. Activate crystals. They were very cool then. [laughter] and dresses. I also learned a lot about people. What they bought, he used coupons, who did not. To help you pack into just stood there and waited. [laughter] who wants to scan every item and questioned the price. Our store was one of only a few that accepted for stamps in the area which gave me more perspective than almost anything on site experience growing up. Is the moment we see woman with a kid or an older person trying stamps covered. Hat the food the humiliation they can endure while holding up the line or having to put things back. It forever formed my opinion on how we should help those in need humanely and respectfully. Maybe that is obviously but unfortunately there are a lot of people who disagree. Years later, we were having a discussion about food stamps in the white house. My job was never a policy focus. As scheduled and coordinated in plans. Dealing with times and days as well as personalities. But i often sat in on policy meetings understand our priorities and be able to use my judgment as my team decided. I have 100 different choices per day how best to use the president s time. This discussion was a followup to a conversation obama had had with someone else. Often he gathered senior staff to talk over issues as a group after meeting with the particular person. Because of the economic recession, there were 11 people in food stamps at the beginning of his presidency. He dropped over his term but we didnt have me as it were talking at that moment. We would dealing with things as they are happening you are not prepared for something to come out of the blue. This meeting was at the result room. I was sitting at the wall. Sitting is surprisingly limited in the west wing. Chairs are huge and not that many fit around the conference tables. Many of which are historical or have some other kind of significance. So invitations to meetings are kind of exclusive. Everyone in the room needs to have a good reason for being there. From the beginning of my career i swim in my own lane and did not comment on things. They were talking with limits on what food stamps, and do not and i could tell, none of them ever new person who had ever needed food stamps. I raise my hand. Something i think i only did what i wanted to talk. And told them what it was like to see people humiliated in line trying to buy genetic cereal, scan soup or milk. To watch them realize what they could not get. To watch them realize how ridiculous it was that sports central current do Something Like sunny delight, which is actually much cheaper than oranges but was in a decent amount of vitamins was not. But that there was nothing that they can do. I could feel myself different and hot. I think you start losing your argument when you physically reveal how worked up you are. Especially in a place like the white house. Where theoretically, what you say should be based on facts and figures and evidence. If your face is red are you showing too much emotion . On a number that my point across. It was not a conversation intended to resolve or change anything at the moment but the clip president made it clear he was on my side. [applause] thats what i was going to read because i figure, mayview does have questions. We should descriptive questions. But i can read more if you do not have questions. Do you want me to read more . Okay, here we go. High mountain. Hi kate. The best part about the jobs in high school, all which i gained some satisfaction from and remember fondly even if at the time i was thinking i would rather be watching 90210 was at the time it important way to rationalize when my career seemed doomed or my life seemed off course. If im never good anything else, i am good at this. You might think that sounds depressing but it has given me a lot of comfort over the years. There is no greater feeling of independence then being able to provide for yourself. Knowing that you really have a job and you will probably have dropped it start your life, you can leave and be okay. When it came time to apply to college at one of the moments where i needed to remember that at the end of the day, at least i was really good at bagging groceries. [laughter] that if i did not get into harvard or even tries to apply, i would end up where i was supposed to end up. The time period was 1992 to 1994. There was no email, no internet. We drove to barnes and noble and bought the Us News College book. We spent hours taking pages and talking about where we wanted to go. I underlined addresses and in the summer before my senior year i rode away to request applications. As a family we picked some schools to visit. Georgetown, berkeley, stanford, uc santa cruz. I did not end up applying to all of them but the places i did apply to, the university of vermont, university of wisconsin, cornell, brown, georgetown, suny albany and i did my best. I want essays which no improvement. Maybe i should have cabro do that. I wrote the essays which no improvement and study for the sats and did pretty well. Especially in. My mom helped reflect checks for application fees and disclaimers, beware my moms checks. If youve not seen saint elmos fire you may not fully understand my mindset at the time but i really wanted to go to georgetown. The movie takes place a year after group of friends to graduate from the and try to find their way in the world. For some reason, even though i hadnt really thought much about getting into politics at the time, i wanted to be alex. Amazing. [laughter] he was a very selfimportant 22yearold working on a Congressional Campaign and cheating on his livein girlfriend. Allie sheedy. It was too good for him. The characters were very weird role models. He drank a lot, a couple did a lot of coke and they spent too much money. But they were attractive and funny and ultimately. Accredited all of this that they went to georgetown. I thought if i got in, i would be able to access some of the brat pack energy. I was top 10 in my class and by that i mean number 11. I had a lot of confidence. Who wouldnt want me . I had gotten all of might rejection the same day in april. After returning from georgetown where i bought a car stick up because i was so convinced theres going to get and we got home only to realize the cash and forgot to put the sticker in the back. When my dad got the mail and open my very thin letter from georgetown and all of the others, we realized it was a sign. Sensing this only work in retrospect. I ended up choosing between the university of vermont and the university of wisconsin. Coming from such a small town and worried i would be to fish out of water in madison. So i happily and probably send it to be a catamount in the freshman class of 1994. When i sent the forms to register for housing, a meal plan at all the stuff that makes you plug in your life is about to start, i never set foot on campus. [laughter] kind of funny when you think about it. Sometimes i do leave and then look for better or worse. Sometimes it works out great, other times maybe things could have gone better. If i had a sense of myself in high school, i lost it in college. This is the first time i realized that money mattered and how you spend it mattered more. And since my family put value on getting most of our car, i had the ford Station Wagon because it lasted forever. I had no idea who i was. I grew up in a 10 we did not know who had money and he did not. The wealthiest families are probably the veterinarians and they drove bit of suburbans and wagon years. Hi brett, hey, high mountain. I do not really remember anyone wearing makeup. Save a little cover up for acting. I wore think about it, when his hair was shorter and the layers were more similar to the rachel. [laughter] it was not all bad. I was good friends with my roommate amy and l4 had a lot of Joni Mitchell and listening sessions. The mid90s bug out can describe any number of situations. When you encountered someone weird, when he smoked bad part, when you have experience your first bout of insomnia because the guy intro psych didnt say next and you can figure out why. In retrospect this is very fun. My classes help me branch output image in french and became very good at japanese we just signed up for on a whim. One semester i took a course in world sociology which focused on poverty in the northeast kingdom of vermont and i later used when i learned to make small talk with oprah while at an obama events in iowa. It was very good, she was super nice. Still, around the beginning of sophomore year began to realize my french major was maybe not taking me in the direction wanted to go. Vermont is very political. People say what they think. They disagree without being disagreeable and have discussions without fighting. State and local officials were always on campus. Governor howard dean seem to register us to go. I got to jump on a reviled republican i found myself gravitate. It was Newt Gingrich just fyi. A contract with america, it was a terrible time. I found myself gravitate into the political stuff whether on or off campus for that winter decided to apply for a summer internship with Bernie Sanders. Bernie, the revelation. When spring break whirled around and found out that the budget for the French Department was being cut in it might not be offered as a major any longer. I thought this was a sign so i reapplied to the university of wisconsin madison to transfer in my junior year and i was accepted. A few weeks later i also got the Bernie Sanders internship. Working for major congressional office. Bernie sanders, john kerry, barack obama. Just saying. [laughter] the internship did not pay when is able to stay with friends in burlington in an apartment on south street behind a liquor store. I slept on a futon in more than once with odysseus better at question my sleep. Yes. So gross but it did not matter. Nothing had ever been more exciting. It was an Election Year so bernie was in the office a lot and he met with constituents more than any politician ive known since. I was kept very busy which i left. I answered phones and took down notes from voters. I faxed press clips, i filed. An identical people in all parts of vermont trying to raise money. I wasnt super successful but i did a great job at reminding people to go register to vote and telling them about the bernie events he would be doing around the state. From time to time i got to drive bernie around. He looks the same way he looks now. Super disheveled, his tight little list, he would usually read the newspaper. Even though we always had the windows down, never conditioning. Sometimes he asked about my family and where was from and explain to me what was going on in the world. I once tried to impress him by telling him about the time my friends and i climbed on Newt Gingrichs car. Bernie was unmoved. His attitude was basically low what else would you have been doing . [laughter] before i met bernie had always thought politics was about theater and showmanship and nothing really happened or that fixed. But instead of focusing on the largescale changes many people expect from politicians, he showed me how to see the peoples problems he can immediately impact and solve. The people who work for him also seemed genuinely dedicated to helping his constituents. Which is not necessarily true event of other senators. Many offices of staff that move from one center to another to get up the ladder with the ultimate goal of becoming a legislative director or chief of staff. Of course, some politicians Staff Members want to run for office themselves. But a lot of times ambition in washington is just about being powerful. And you can be powerful without a seat in congress. Bernie was so committed to issues and to do vermont that. [inaudible conversations] left for madison a case might major to political science. One day at the end of my internship two important things happened. First i got a call from a 608 area code for bernie. That is madison wisconsin. Bernie was running late so i told the man on the line, and he might have to wait a few minutes. In the meantime, ask questions. I always try to learn about the people coming into the office. Especially people meeting with her talking to bernie. I wanted to know what made them important enough to warrant time and attention. I researched everything it could. When i got and on the phone he had to wait i saw my chance. I knew the end was a very important labor attorney. He had unionized and the Players Association and was a progressive layer. As i was transferred to madison. And he replied that i should come see him when i arrived on campus. I worked for him for the two years i lived there. And as a side note, he passed away about three weeks ago and he ran for governor several times and was a great human being. I am glad that i actually wrote about him in here because he was wonderful. The other important thing that happened that day was that bernies team invited me to be an intern in their d. C. Office the following summer. I dont know if anyone the office will under ever understand what that meant to me. I felt like wonder woman. I was ready to strike out. I packed up and went back for week or two and drove out to madison. I saved up my money that youre from working for ed garvey. From babysitting for a family asset madison a couple times a week and onto my 21st birthday for my summer in dc. At the end with a friend from rhinebeck who was going to law school i drove to the metropark and took the train to capitol south. At exactly 5 outfits to rotate each week. Inmates mounted mayonnaise sandwiches impact pretzels for a snack every day. I wanted to bernies office ready to jam but this was a way to provide. These interns were kind of competitive. And i would rather hang or bang in a drum circle or day than ever have to compete. I had a minor crisis f confidence. Then i remembered the 9100 times more about vermont than any of these guys. I was very busy every day walking briskly and professionally over the halls of congress. Getting signatures on bills and amendments. Running anything and everything. [laughter] im sorry. Running anything and everything to other offices in helping to draft letters to constituents. If legally blunted, by then, i went to fancy myself a virgin of elwood meets norma rae, the union organizer. In my internship ended and i was basically out of money, i was convinced only back the following summer after graduation to start my career as a humble and timid government employee. I did not get to interact with bernie that much but it didnt really matter. Working for him and give me a clear picture o