Latest / Mama Making Podcast / Michele Clark | From Preschool to Springfield: One Mom's Path from Business Owner to State Senate Candidate

Transcript

Michele Clark | From Preschool to Springfield: One Mom's Path from Business Owner to State Senate Candidate · Mama Making Podcast

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: Hello and welcome to the Mama Making Podcast, where we share stories of moms making impact in their own lives and in the world around them.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Jessica, and each week I sit down with women who are building businesses, leading communities, shaping culture, and redefining what success looks like inside of motherhood.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: Because motherhood does not have to stop your own fission.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: It can transform it.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now let's get into it.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Mama Making Podcast.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Jessica.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: If you're new, welcome.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: If you're not new, then welcome back.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Today I am so excited to have Michelle Clark on the podcast.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: Michelle is a lifelong resident of Chicago's Northwest suburbs, a former small business owner, a mom of two daughters, and a dedicated community leader.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: She previously owned an early childhood learning center, running it while raising her own children, and currently serves as the director of development for the D300 Food Pantry, where she works to support local families and ensure children have the access to essential resources.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: She is also a candidate for Illinois State Senate in the 33rd district.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: Her path from mom and business owner to community advocate to candidate is driven by a single thread, a belief that when people closest to the problems get involved in solving them, things can actually change.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome, Michelle.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: I'm super excited to have you here.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for having me.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm so excited to be here.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the work that you do, Jessica, to highlight moms and action.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: So tell us who you are, where you're from, whatever you're comfortable sharing.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, your introduction of me was spot on and very complimentary.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: But yes, I was born in and raised in Illinois in the suburbs of Chicago.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: My I had a great childhood.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: My dad was a marine veteran who started our family business.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And my mom was a homemaker who managed that business.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: The business ran right out of our home.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I got an introduction to family or small business ownership very early on.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: I left Illinois for a short time to go to college.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's where I met my husband.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: We returned to Chicago to start our careers.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I started out in sales.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And a couple years went by.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: We had our first daughter a few years after that.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: We welcomed our second daughter.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: And during that time, my husband discovered that he wanted to pursue his dream of becoming a commercial airline pilot.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we we focused on that.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: I was supporting ours financially while my husband was going through his training.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: And once he got through that and landed his first job with an airline, he was needing to travel quite a bit, obviously.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I was traveling a lot with my business with my company too.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: So having raising two small children while traveling, you know, that that wasn't gonna work.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: So we were then, you know, faced with having to pivot again.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: But I looked upon it as a really great opportunity because my children were attending a great preschool and I got to know the owner of that preschool really well.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And she kind of became a mentor to me and said, you know, you should consider owning a preschool too.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now I always wanted to own my own business, but never was quite sure what I should do.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought this is a perfect time and opportunity to do that.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Lo and behold, there was a school for sale in the area, and it was considered inexpensive because it was a failing preschool at the time, but it was a lot of money for us.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I we had to take out a huge loan and we had to, you know, put in any remaining savings that we had.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: We purchased the business and then, you know, we're off and running.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that was the hardest time, the hardest work I've ever had to do.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: But it was also the most rewarding because I got to, you know, grow my career uh while having my children by my side and then also serving the families of a community that I really loved.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: 11 years went by, that business became a success, and I was able to sell it.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: And when I did, that's when I moved on to become an executive with the local boys and girls clubs.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that was actually at the time that COVID had just entered.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: And hundreds of kids in the community needed a safe place to go during the school day because the schools were closed, because their families or their parents might have been hourly working parents or had hourly working wages, or they were essential workers, or their home was not conducive for online learning.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I worked with, I think it was 13 schools in four different school districts to open emergency learning centers, full-day learning centers for these kids to be able to go to to be able to be in a safe place and get what they needed to be able to get through the school day.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that, you know, once we got out of COVID, my work at the boys and girls clubs were was more extensive and it was so valuable.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: I I worked with, you know, besides operations of the of youth development, I was also working with federal and state funding and grants.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: I was working with community strategic partners.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um I was working with local officials and elected, elected officials and became a youth, youth advocate.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that was so fulfilling.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: That time is when I established a relationship with our local House representative and later became her campaign manager for the last election cycle.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when I got to thinking about hmm, could I see myself as, you know, somebody in office and what could I bring?
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I felt that, you know, with my experience and my passion for serving communities, I thought now was the time for me to step forward.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: So here I am.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: That's so amazing.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: I I love the work that you're doing and how everything just kind of like built upon itself.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: I want to go back to the beginning when you decided to start your own business.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, you started it to be with your children, able to build a business with them at your side.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: That also brings some challenge as well.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: What did that look like for you in the first few years?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: I imagine it was a few very hard years till it got successful.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: But what did that look like for you being a business owner, being a primary parent, um, your husband traveling a bit?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: What did it all look like there?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, I think you described it pretty well right now.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: I I think uh you can understand that it was pretty, pretty busy.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was, there were some very hard days there.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: My children at the time were four and a half and just over a year old.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: So they, you know, being being a parent of young children, they require a lot of a lot of attention.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: But it was what, you know, it we took it one day at a time.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: And some days were very, well, I should say every day was very busy.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Some days were stressful, and many days were very rewarding, very, you know, so not unlike motherhood in and of itself, right?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: But it it does seem like it's all a blur right now.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: But I do remember mornings where we had to wake up super early because the school would open at 6 30.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I would be at home alone with the, with the with the little ones, and I would wake up and have to get them ready and change diapers and feed them, get them in the car, and be at the school by 6 a.m.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, and there were mornings that I was just like, what am I doing?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is more than I bargained for.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: However, it was very fulfilling to know that in serving my family by owning this business and building this business, I was also serving other families who, when they dropped their kids off there in the morning and they knew that it was a safe place for their kids to be so they can go off to work and be productive and provide for their families.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: I thought there, you know, this was all worth it.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: So in that time frame when you were building a business, it became successful, you were raising your own family.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: What were some of the things that started coming up for you that were like, hmm, this needs to change or we could do this differently or better in terms of childcare, supporting families, giving them a safe place to bring their kids.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: What did that look like?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, a lot of things popped up.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, I I learned why childcare is so expensive.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: It there's there's no doubt about it.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Childcare is expensive.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: But seeing, being behind the curtain and knowing what how to operate the business, I have a full understanding of why it's so expensive.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very, you know, it's a lot of overhead.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's a labor-intensive business, which of course it should be.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely, childcare should not be replaced by AI.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we we need highly qualified, talented teachers to be in the role, and they're underpaid, extremely underpaid, and we need to fix that problem too.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I, you know, I I had a variety of different types of families that would be enrolled at the school.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: I had single mothers, I had families who came from different backgrounds, I had uh families who had losses, I had families who had real struggles.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: I actually took o ownership of the business in 2008 when you know that that was the peak of the housing market crash.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've witnessed parents losing their jobs, losing their health care, loot, and worse yet, losing their homes.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it's interesting to have a business where you become so close to the to your customers, to your families.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you really learn how it does take a village.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: It it takes a whole community to be to for for families to thrive.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: So that was really eye-opening for me.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope to bring those experiences when when I'm in office to to be able to share those stories of like what can we do to to make families feel less stressed, for them to be more productive, for them to have a little breeding room.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: On the same topic of childcare, I know it's one of your bigger platforms that you're you're running on.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us a little bit more about the the ins and outs of what it looks like currently.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: Well, in one word, it's expensive.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the ins and outs, and there are child care deserts throughout the state of Illinois, and teachers are underpaid.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's very expensive to, like I said, to run a daycare center.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: So all of these things combined make it very challenging to offer the child care that is much needed for so many families.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Families are put in a position where, you know, when they find out, when they're welcoming a child into the world and they're so excited, and then they're faced with, okay, how are we going to navigate our careers?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: How are we going to navigate paying the bills?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: And how are we going to navigate giving being able to provide the best for our child?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: And how are we going to pay for child care if that's what we choose is best for our family?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it's often discouraging to to young parents that, you know, is this even something that we could afford?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then parents are at a crossroads of having to decide, should I continue on with my career or should I leave the workforce?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that often falls on the mother.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And what I see is a long, a long-term problem with that is, well, we want choices, right?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we should have the choice of if you find it's best to stay home with your children or if you want to pursue, continue on with your career.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes there isn't a choice that you need two incomes.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: But if you are forced out of the workforce because their childcare is, you know, on a just out of the question financially, then a lot of moms are held back for years because it's very difficult, especially in the very fast-changing, high-paced uh technology world that we're living in.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you're out of the workforce for two years, three years, it's very hard to re-enter.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: And if you do re-enter, if you oftentimes you're at a lower level position than what maybe you were at before, or else, you know, a lot of times you're getting paid less than maybe what you would have been paid if you would have stayed in the workforce.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel that that, you know, I know that that's a reality and, you know, in life's not fair, but I think that there needs to be more attention drawn to this because more and more women are being held back because of something like childcare that I feel that if we put our heads together, we can create better solutions.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: So going into your work in nonprofit, I used to be a nonprofit fundraiser.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's a place that's close to my heart.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: What are some of the things that you took from your experience?
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, owning a a childcare center and being so immersed with families, and then going into advocacy work in the nonprofit sector, what kind of things did you take away from that experience that have kind of brought you to your platform currently?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, nonprofit work often fills or supports people who might have less less means or might be under-resourced.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so working with that with boys and girls clubs, I did have the privilege to work with families who, you know, were not as well off or, you know, didn't have the things that maybe the families that I worked with at the preschool did.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it was very eye-opening to me that families who, despite doing everything right and working hard, sometimes working two, three jobs, having multiple generations living under one roof, having multiple generations bring home paychecks in order to, you know, pay for living expenses, you know, it really showed me that there are a lot of people who are suffering, who are challenged.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times it's not be and it's never because they're not working hard enough.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think, you know, it it does frustrate me when there are some people who will argue to say, well, you know, pick yourself up by your bootstraps.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: And and and I I I I I've seen firsthand that that's not really the the case.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's not the problem.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times, for example, you know, families are without health care because they don't have jobs that provide it.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Or families lose their health care because or families aren't given enough hours at their job because the employer can't afford to, you know, give them full-time status to pay for health care.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's a big problem.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: After school care for working parents is is a real uh problem.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, paying hundreds of dollars for after school care where a parent, you know, wants to hold down a full-time job, but what do they do with their seven, eight-year-old students, you know, who who needs after school childcare?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I the what it had what I'm bringing with me are, you know, real life experiences or or stories of families who, like I said, despite working very hard, are struggling to make ends meet.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's the that's what I came away from from the nonprofit work.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I think once when you're in nonprofit, no matter what sector you wind up being, you really get to see like eyes wide open, jump right in the the the deep end view of what's actually happening in our communities that maybe might not be our next door neighbors, but they might be people that we work with or people that we know in our community and don't actually know what's going on for those individuals?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: What are ways that people can start to become more aware of these things without changing their whole career path to nonprofit?
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: How can we as moms and get more involved in knowing what the challenges are in our community?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think it's very easy to to get involved.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps, you know, find out there are local food pantries that you could that you could volunteer with.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you don't have time to volunteer and you want to be informed, I would say start out by attending your local village hall meetings.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you can't go there physically, they usually live stream them.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: So just to stay informed of what's going on with your uh local village or municipalities, attend your uh local school board meetings.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: And again, if you can't actually attend in person, they usually live stream those as well.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Get involved if you if you have a place of worship that you attend.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Usually they're quite involved with helping the community, but just being involved really gives you access to, you know, finding out what is happening in your community and what the needs are and and maybe where some of those gaps are.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I'd love to talk about the transition between working in nonprofit as a director of development and then deciding that you're gonna run for office.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: I know you said you did a political campaign in between there.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me how you got from doing your nonprofit job to uh to where you are now.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, my whole career path has been kind of by walking through the next door.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I've always been kind of a person who's not afraid to take the next step.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: And when when an opportunity presents itself, I feel like I'm I'm eager to explore it.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I was working in nonprofit with boys and girls clubs, that I said, you know, it I was doing I was COO, so I was in operations and I was also involved with budgets, and I was also involved with grants and management of the grants and seeking additional funding and and resources and and and donors.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, so I was doing a mixed bag of of these things, and in doing so, I had the opportunity to meet so many people, people who were, you know, our strategic community partners as well as legislators, people who were, you know, the the actual people who were responsible for offering grants and other, you know, uh streams of revenue for nonprofits.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: So because these relationships were built, and I was always asking questions.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: I was always asking, you know, tell me, tell me how your job works.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me what you what you hope to accomplish as a as a as a legislator, what's important to you to see in your community.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: And those conversations just led to building up of these relationships.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how I formed a relationship with a local shit local state legislator.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: And because I did all of these things in operations and in rev, but you know, I managed a team of a hundred uh staff and I just wore all these hats.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: She saw me as somebody who would be very capable at, you know, managing the many different things and and, you know, I guess complicated things that are involved in a campaign.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: I had never run a campaign before.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: She had a lot of confidence in me that I didn't at the time, but she's like, yeah, Michelle, I know you can do this.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, yeah, you know what?
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this sounds like it could be a lot of fun.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna learn a lot.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I can bring a lot of what I've experienced in my past jobs and and is particularly leadership.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's all it's all about managing and inspiring people.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what I brought to the table.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: We successfully won that campaign.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: That was thrilling, and uh, that got me a taste of what it was like to run for office, but also it gave me exposure to really caring and effective uh elected officials who do deeply care about their community.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: I know that a lot of times our elected officials get criticized for not doing enough or doing the wrong thing, or but I can tell you the people that I've interacted with truly care about their community.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, that was like that's that was inspiring to me.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that was a good example of what I wanted to do.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so tell us that was the next step.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_02: How did you decide that you were gonna run?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: And what key focus areas did you identify from the beginning that you wanted to run on?
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so when the the seat that I'm running for is District 33, which has been held by um a state senator for uh several years now, he has decided to retire.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: So this became an open seat.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so when this became an open seat, that state legislator that I know tapped me on the shoulder and said, you know how you've been thinking about maybe running for office?
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, now's the time to, you know, really think about it seriously.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that's when I started having conversations with other state legislators, the state Senate Democrats, and so forth.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: And through a vetting process and everything, it was decided that, you know, I was encouraged to put my name officially in the hat, which is what I did.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I kind of did it knowing that I had a lot to offer.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Not sure exactly what my platform was going to be at that time, but I knew that child.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Childcare, youth development, caring for, you know, kids in our community, making sure that kids from every zip code and every income have equal opportunity for success.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the things that like really, you know, motivate, motivated me to make a difference.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: I and so finding my exact platform or my voice, you know, that that took a little bit of time.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: But I learned a lot also just from, you know, talking with potential voters, you know, constituents who are out there and they're telling me straight, you know, they're telling me exactly what I need to know as far as things that need to be worked on.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Things that I'm hearing at the door are always affordability issues.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Things like, you know, some some of the stories are are heartbreaking.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: They're, you know, they're worried about benefits being taken away, snap benefits, Medicaid.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: I just met this wonderful couple at their doorstep last week, and they have a disabled adult son who is living with them.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: And they're very nervous that any of their benefits that he has would be taken away because they have to buy supplies for him.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: And she, and she, you know, it was heartbreaking when she said, I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but this money help us helps us buy things like sippy cups for our our our son.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, so that being said, all of these stories are on my mind.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I intend to bring to Springfield and bring, you know, represent the true needs of our community and looking out for the regular people who live here and not looking out for the interests of the, you know, the insiders, I guess, in politics.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_02: And what's been cool to see over the last few years, I I just recently had a guest.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: She she runs on Politics Now, and it's a a group that they train people in in Canada and Ontario specifically on how to support campaigns, running for office, getting women elected.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: And we had just chatted about how different things are now, and that there was a time where if you didn't want to be involved in politics, you'd you could choose not to be.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: But I think we're in a a time today now, especially as moms and women and leaders of communities, that we have to be involved and every decision made affects us.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm I'm really hopeful that we continue to see more people like you who are just everyday people involved in their community that want to see it be better.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: And what would you say to people who are wanting to get involved, wanting to make a difference?
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Jessica, if I can just take a couple steps back to what you said about, you know, moms now feeling that they're, you know, maybe forced to be involved.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I know that there are a lot of things that are stressing us out about politics right now.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: But if we can look at the positive things that this could bring, which me, which would be more of us stepping in to take action and ensuring that our voices are heard, I think, hey, let's, let's, let's, you know, let's work on that.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Let's let's let's focus on that.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, more and more legislators are our women.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, certainly we have a lot of work to do there.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Illinois actually has one of the highest percentages of mothers in the led in the General Assembly, mothers who have children under the age of 18.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that is directly responsible or reflective of some of the legislation that is actually being brought forth today.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: For example, most recently, there was a mom in the General Assembly in the in the Illinois House who proposed, and a bill was passed, for to allow midwives to to enter into an agreement with physicians so that they can assist in home births.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I think, you know, could that legislation have been presented or passed with, you know, male representation?
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Possibly.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it, but I I think we could all agree that more more than likely it happened because this was a mother who brought this forth and saw a need for it.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: And um, because of it, you know, we have more moms who have options now in in how they want to plan their births.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's wonderful.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, I like that.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm kind of, you know, I kind of got off on a tangent there, but I I I I wanted to state that the importance of and the value of us as moms, as women, stepping forward into it to make a difference because it certainly will.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: We need more and more representation of mothers and women in legislation to be able to do uh to make the changes and the positive impacts that for for our families.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, it can be intimidating, I guess, to step forward and to wonder if, you know, is it me who should be that person to do that?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: I I the advice that I would give you is the first step you can take is making a connection to somebody who is in office.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: And whether that be on your county board, somebody who is on your perhaps on the on the maybe a trustee, a village trustee, somebody who might be on the school board, and simply call them and ask them to have coffee and and talk to them to say, I feel like I have a voice, I have something to give, I have something to offer, but I don't exactly know sure what that is.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: I guarantee you that that person would be delighted to have coffee with you and to talk with you.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: And we are always searching for more, particularly women, to step into this space and for us to support their journey and to support uh them being successful in it.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: You won't be alone.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's the very first step that I would suggest doing, and then find out, you know, where is your interest?
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: Is it at the very local level, you know, in just your backyard, or is it more on the county level?
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: Or is it, you know, for the state level?
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: I decided to dive into the state level because quite frankly, I love Illinois.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: Illinois is, I think, the best state.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: I know we've got a lot of problems, but quite honestly, I think we there's so much to be excited about to live in Illinois.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why I chose to seek out a state level position.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: But there are so many leadership opportunities out there, and we need women, we need moms to come forward to to advocate for the needs of families.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_02: Tell people who do live in Illinois, maybe in your district, where they can find you, how they can get information about you, maybe see you here in our northwest suburban districts.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if you live in District 33, which extends as far north as Crystal Lake and as far south as St.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Charles of Geneva, very likely I hope to be knocking on your door between now and November.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: But you can get involved in my campaign by visiting Michelle for ILsenate.com and Michelle is with one L.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: And you can link up with our campaign that way.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: We are always looking for people who want to support the campaign with either postcard writing or door knocking.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: One of the great things to do is if you would want to host a coffee in your home and just invite over your neighbors, your girlfriends, that is the best way for a candidate to be able to connect with voters.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's one of my favorite things to do.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: I do have different fundraisers and events that are coming up along along the line, but we also have things that are called days of action.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: And days of action are when a group of people get together to go out canvassing for a candidate.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a lot of fun.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: And you won't be alone.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: We'll make sure that you have someone by your side because I know that it can be intimidating at first.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll tell you one thing that when I worked on my the the house reps campaign, when we were having a bad day, she would say to me, Let's go out door knocking.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, well, I think you're crazy that you know what what the last thing I want to do is, you know, put myself out there and, you know, when I'm feeling already, I just had I've had a bad day.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth is, is when you go out and you are knocking on your neighbor's door and you have conversations of things that you have in common and things that you you you'll will you'll find that you have more things in common than you don't, and that and that people are eager to have conversations and people are eager to connect, particularly they they're interested in getting to know their neighbors.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: When that connection is made, especially in the time that we're living in right now, it is so fulfilling and it makes you give it it, it makes you very hopeful for the future.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if you're feeling courageous and you want to step into that, we are here to help you do that.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's so amazing.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you so much for all the work that you're doing.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_02: I'm hoping it'll inspire some people to get involved in our local community, but then also in their communities as well.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: I'm excited to see what happens here in the fall.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um if you could tell people when your poll will be.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we're rolling into another, another election cycle.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: And November 3rd is your the actual you know election day.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you can early voting starts here in September 24th.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: And don't forget that you can do mail-in, mail-in voting as well.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: Work with your local county.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Most of my district is in Kane County, but also McHenry County and DuPage.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're not sure where to vote, reach out to your Kane County clerk.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: They will, that office will be more than happy to help you.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: Another way that you can get involved in elections is to be an election judge.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: This is a great way to be of service, polling places.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's bipartisan and it's a great way to serve and to support the election process.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's a noble thing to do.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're looking for it to do that, and actually, high school kids, uh I think if they're 17 or older, they can also do this, do this work as well.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you so much, Michelle.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: I really appreciate you coming on, sharing your story, uh, hopefully inspiring people to get more involved.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I look forward to seeing what happens this fall.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jessica.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: This was a really fun.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for making it so easy for me to tell my story and keep up the great work that you do and being voices for those courageous moms out there.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's really it's really great work that you're doing.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you so much.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate it.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_02: If this conversation resonated with you, I'd love for you to follow the podcast wherever you listen and share it with another mom building something meaningful.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_02: If you want deeper behind the scenes reflections that I don't share anywhere else, join my email list at the Mama Making Podcast.com.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for being here, and I'll see you next time.