Heidi Sloan for Texas
(Photo credit: Lauren Slusher)
For Teen Vogue this week, I profiled Heidi Sloan, a farmer, community organizer and Democratic Socialist who’s running to unseat GOP Rep. Roger Williams, who is one of the richest members of Congress.
I spent an hour on the phone with Heidi and learned about her work advocating for immigrants, children with disabilities, service industry workers, and Austin’s homeless residents. She was also candid with me about the struggles of impostor syndrome while running for Congress as a “regular-ass person” (rather than a multi-millionaire.)
From the story:
At first, people encouraged Sloan to run for Austin City Council, and she said no. Then someone told her to run for school board, and she said no. Someone told her to run for Congress, and she laughed at them; but this time, she made a deal.
“I said, ‘I'm going to call 40 people, and the first time someone says no, then I'm going to not do this, and we can have this settled once and for all,’” Sloan recalls. “But it was really terrible and obnoxious, and people just kept saying yes.”
This story kindled some much-needed hope in me — that there are some genuinely good people out there working in solidarity with one another to build a better future for us all.
Have a great weekend.
xoxo,
emma
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