This Pod Is Your Pod: Episode 3

"You Have to Sweep Around Your Own Front Door"

A conversation with Congresswoman Gwen Moore

Congresswoman Gwen Moore

Congresswoman Moore gives a constituent a high five.

This week, Cortney and I were THRILLED to talk with the incredible and inspiring Congresswoman Gwen Moore, who shared with us her galvanizing message about advocating for the health of new mothers and babies, a community that has often been overlooked and underserved. Representative Moore, a great-grandmother herself, perfectly distilled for us the urgency of this issue, citing the (devastating) prevalence of maternal and infant death in this country. We also talked about why telling our stories matters, and who inspires us.

Thank you to Congresswoman Moore for joining us and for speaking passionately and persuasively about how we can all take action. Please call your own elected representatives and ask them to co-sponsor and support Congresswoman Moore's upcoming bill that highlights this issue. You can also read an op-ed she wrote last year about the GOP's shameless misappropriation of Black Lives Matter to demean women of color. She's a badass and we love her and loved speaking with her.

Our calls to action this week (courtesy of Cat!):

If you'd like more information or resources on infant and maternal health:

• The CDC advocates for Safe Sleep Education through programs such as Cribs for Kids, which is a National Infant Safe Sleep Initiative that works to reduce the rate of infant sleep-related deaths
• Milwaukee Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families (LIHF) is currently implementing a One Key Question (“Would you like to become pregnant in the next year?”)  project to support pregnancy intention and prenatal health.
• Support Planned Parenthood - they are a critical reproductive health provider. Donate, share their message, and pressure your lawmakers to keep them funded!

​After last week's statements (via tweet) from the President suggesting that transgender people be banned from military service, we also ask our listeners to take action in standing up for the transgender community. A few suggestions:

• Your biggest influence is those around you.  Talk to neighbors and friends about the facts surrounding the transgender military community.
• Write Members of Congress expressing support for transgender military members.
• Donate to or volunteer with organizations that support LGBT members: OutServe-SLDN, SPART*A, Transgender Law Center.

​The Golden Pantsuit this week went to Bozoma Saint John, the new Chief Brand Officer at Uber. She's taking the challenge head-on, and we're looking forward to a better Uber under her guidance.

Finally, we leave you with the best thing of the internet this week... Mikal Kilgore doing a gospel rendition of Maxine Waters' ​​recent showdown with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during a House Financial Services Committee hearing. Waters was having none of it when Mnuchin was trying to waste her allotted questioning time. Let's all reclaim some time this week, pantsuiters.

If you like what you hear, please subscribe to This Pod Is Your Pod via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And share with your friends! We'll be back next Thursday with a new episode.