Getting More Moms Into Office with Vote Mama’s Liuba Grechen Shirley

Podcast

Nov 11

Liuba Grechen Shirley

**“If we want to change policy in this country, we have to change who has has a seat at the table**.”

In this episode, Liuba joins me for a conversation about normalizing mothers of young children running for office, how to encourage political empowerment, advocating for family-friendly policies, and supporting women in their mission to take up space at the congressional table.

Featured Topics:

How Liuba went from stay-at-home mom to activist and politician. She shares what sparked that journey.
How Liuba persevered and ran a historic congressional campaign to represent New York’s 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives and built a grassroots movement of volunteers that knocked on over 250,000 doors
Why issues such as paid leave or child care are not just women’s issues, they’re economic issues that affect all Americans
How Liuba became the first woman in history to receive federal approval to spend Campaign Funds on Childcare

How the Vote Mama Lobby political empowerment platform for fed-up moms is helping them to advocate for family-forward legislation
Vote Mama’s State of Motherhood report, and why representation matters

Liuba’s official bio:

Liuba Grechen Shirley is the Founder and CEO of Vote Mama, the nation’s first Political Action Committee dedicated to electing progressive moms up and down the ballot, as well as the Founder and CEO of Vote Mama Foundation, the leading source of research and analysis about the political participation of mothers in the United States. Vote Mama Foundation is working toward gender equity by breaking the barriers mothers face running for office, normalizing mothers of young children running for office, and enabling legislators to pass family-friendly policies.

In 2018, Liuba ran a historic congressional campaign to represent New York’s 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives. She received the highest vote share of any Democrat to run against the incumbent in 25 years. Liuba raised over $2 million with no corporate PAC money and built a grassroots movement of volunteers that knocked over 250,000 doors. She petitioned the Federal Election Commission and became the first woman in history to receive federal approval to spend Campaign Funds on Childcare.

Throughout her career, Liuba has forged strategic partnerships between public, private, and nonprofit sector organizations to tackle issues including economic development, access to health care, and paid family leave. Together with UN Women, she launched the #IAmParent campaign for Parental Leave and was selected as a Global Champion for Women’s Economic Empowerment.

In 2019 and 2020, Liuba was selected as one of Long Island’s 100 Most Powerful People by City & State and was named to the Long Island Business News 40 Under 40 list. She has appeared on CNN, The Today Show, and MSNBC and featured in The Washington Post, TIME Magazine, and Huffington Post. Liuba holds an MBA with specializations in Management and Economics from the NYU Stern School of Business, and a BA in Politics and Russian from NYU. She lives on Long Island with her husband Christopher and children, Mila, Nicholas, and Andrew.

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