Girl and The Gov, The Podcast

In this episode we officially leave Sammy’s NY territory and hop on over to Maddie’s in California to chat with Fatima Iqbal-Zubair who is a candidate running for CA State Assembly (D64). And when we say running in this case, we mean running as a grassroots progressive candidate against an incumbent Democrat. There’s tea and there’s real talk on what needs to change in her district and how she pla...

It’s all in the branding isn’t it? That is very much the case of the concept of Crisis Pregnancy Centers, as well as that of Planned Parenthood. In our first deep dive conversation (we don’t know how it’s our first either) on women’s health and the politics surrounding it, we virtually sat down with State Senator Cappelletti (PA-17) to get into it all. Through our conversation we peeled back the b...

This episode we’re scooting over to the SCOTUS side of things to discuss the latest and greatest hot button cases with lawyer and legal educator, Natasha Axelrod. Touching on Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L and NCAA v. Alston et al, this episode provides the scoop on what the cases were all about, where they landed, and what the court’s decisions mean for the future. Obvi we also give light to...

It’s a DM-iversary BABAAAAAY! Once upon a time in land far far away, aka California, Maddie DM’d Sammy about starting a podcast. A year later and here we are - rockin,’ rollin,’ and giving you the scoop on our journey. We chat through top q’s we get, submissions from our beloved brand ambassadors (we heart you!), what we have planned for year two, and a lot about Sammy's momentarily raspy voic...

This episode covers so much ground that its title is almost two full lines long. Is that a record? We’re not sure. But, what we are sure of, is that this episode gives you the 411 on the amazing work done and that is in motion for the Trevor Project. What we’re also sure of is that our guest, Casey Pick, ESQ, Senior Fellow for Advocacy & Government Affairs at The Trevor Project, provides a com...

This is a special edition of Girl and the Gov, The Podcast and it’s special not just because its a two episode week, but because we are beyond honored to share that our guest is none other than Ms. Opal Lee, the Grandmother of Juneteenth. To say that we aren’t still star struck is an understatement, but Ms. Opal Lee is one serious badass lady, counting 94 years on this planet and many in activism....

We’re surfing over to California for this episode, where we speak with the founder of Project Super Bloom, Eric Warmoth about the smoke and mirrors politics going on in the Golden State. To the surprise of many, politics in California at the state level isn’t what it seems to be from afar -- blue. Due to the ability for corporations to donate directly to political campaigns, the ways in which poli...

Have you ever thought to yourself WTF is actually inside the Constitution? Have you ever thought, but like where’s the Bill of Rights at? If either of these two questions have ever popped into your head, this episode is for you. We had the privilege of chatting with Ben Sheehan, Author of OMG WTF DOES THE CONSTITUTION ACTUALLY SAY?, on these two questions and more -- like those pesky amendments, h...

The sun is rising on a new episode, which is perfect because this one sheds (sun)light on the Sunrise Movement. A dip back into the world of climate activism and climate policy, this episode takes us through an informative and can’t-miss conversation with the Co-Founder of the Sunrise Movement. Will Lawrence. From interesting tactics like ‘Wide Awakes’ (this was new to us) to politicians that are...

Every season is election season, which is why we tapped Lala Wu, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Sister District to give us the 411 on how to get out the vote. Providing a close look at the mechanisms we commonly hear about like phone banking, text banking, and more, our conversation with Lala offers more than just definitions, but an understanding of how these processes are actually put to w...

Here we are on social media, using good ol’ technology to get the scoop and be in the loop. A concept that touches the good, the bad, and the ugly, social media has many uses and capabilities. It houses interactions, patterns, and varied forms of linguistics. Each of these elements carries itself into the realm of politics and it’s one that we dove into with Dr. Desmond U. Patton, Associate Profes...

It seems like we’ve had a lot of people dubbed “thou who shall not be named” in the last few years, and honestly many for good reason. One such person, represents GA-14 in Congress and has pushed out conspiracy theories galore. Do you need another hint? Okay, she also recently challenged AOC to a debate. If you’ve connected the dots, welcome to the party and welcome to the episode where we intervi...

The conversation around immigration in the US is often met with controversial opinions, buzz words, and horrendous campaign slogans. However, it is also commonly misunderstood, as are the terms within this overarching umbrella. Cue, Layla Razavi, Deputy Executive Director at Freedom for Immigrants, who we were honored to speak with on this episode. Walking us through immigration 101, Layla provide...

Beep beep coming through, we have an episode that you can absolutely not miss. Okay, we don’t recommend missing any of them, but like seriously this one is a 10/10 must-listen. We are beyond excited to share that this episode features a guest that had us starstruck from the moment we hopped onto record (no one fainted by some miracle). This guest of honor is none other than Kari Fulton, Frontline...

Mood board time. When you think of climate change, what is the visual that comes to mind? Is it oil refineries? Factory smog? Does it include agriculture? If it doesn’t include agriculture, your mood board is about to get an update after this episode. As part of our special series on climate, Jillian Semaan, Director of Food and Environment at Earthday.org joined us to discuss the deep impact that...

OH HEYY, it’s episode two of our climate-focused month and we could not be more excited about this episode. No, like seriously, we are screaming. We had the pleasure of interviewing, Dr. Katharine Wilkinson who wears so many hats in the climate realm that we’d have to build a closet just to store them all. To give you a glimpse at her role, she is an expert and strategist on how humans can address...

April showers bring May flowers and we certainly hope this philosophy translates to climate change, which is why we’re covering the issue all month long. This episode, the first in the series, is set to equip you with the basics of climate change through the lens of Aaron Burgess, Director of Climate Policy at Tom Steyer PAC. An expert and policy maven in the field, Aaron’s work and insights offer...

Military healthcare in the United States is more complicated than a love triangle on the Bachelor. It’s layered, it’s nuanced, and it takes a true expert in chaos and crisis to shed light on how healthcare and the military intersect. Cue, Vice Admiral (Ret.) Dr. Rocky Bono, MD, the first woman surgeon in the military to hold the rank of Vice Admiral, the first female three-star admiral in the medi...

Something that’s foreign to most -- foreign aid -- became a bit more familiar to us this week. And how exactly did that happen? Through our conversation with Clint Borgen, the founder of the Borgen Project of course! The founder of the campaign to address global poverty is well-versed in what foreign aid is, how it's distributed, and the many forms it can come in, and his knowledge surely shon...

Is it us or do the names of bills and acts often sound like super-secret spy codes? Like legit should we go get a walky-talky and take it from there? Well, the case is no different for HR1, which is  better known as the ‘For the People Act’ -- and, to make it super confusing, it’s also commonly referred to as the ‘voting rights act.’ With three names and a million and more details to digest, we br...

When we say that this week’s guest is an absolute BOSS, it’s truly the understatement of the century. Like, literally. Our guest, State Representative Madinah Wilson-Anton (DE-D26) is a trailblazer in politics and has insights for days -- yes, somehow we condensed days into a digestible show that’s under two hours long. Speaking of insights, in this episode we discussed the issue of affordable hou...

We’re millennials and we will absolutely come up with a slang word for anything and everything, including stimulus checks. Cue, the ‘stimi.’ Cute, right? Cuter if you actually received it, which Maddie has yet to. We’d tweet about it, but we thought it would be better to talk solutions with Greg Nasif, Press Secretary & Chief Spokesman with Humanity Forward. Sharing resources on what to do in...

It’s 10pm, do you know what the SEC is? If you don’t, that’s a-okay because this week our guest, Delano Saporu, Founder of New Street Advisors walked us through the basics of Wall Street finance and connected the dots with us to politics (ahem, SEC). The regular CNBC and Fox Business contributor gave us the lay of the land and the vocab to not only get a better grasp on the intersectionality betwe...

We’re super excited about this episode and not just because we have another Tom Steyer for Prez alumni tap. We’re excited for about five million reasons, but especially because in this episode we tackle two topics we have yet to touch. Yep, that’s right, we are scratching new surfaces this week. Helping us do so, our amazing guest, Abdul Henderson, who is both the former Executive Director of the...

It’s Wednesday and you know what that means? An amazing episode with a very special guest - Brandon Upson, Founder of Amplify Action. We had the honor of chatting with this Tom Steyer campaign alum (he was the National Organizing Director) and civic engagement genius who shared with us the innovative techniques his organization is bringing to the South to get out the vote. We’ll give you one hint...