Name: One On One Interview With Uber's Meena Harries
Uploaded: 2019-12-12
Duration: 18 min 25 s
Description: One On One Interview With Uber's Meena Harries

So we were talking yesterday and you mentioned that your aunt Carla Harris pulling out of the race is still really raw for you. What's that been like? Tell us a little bit about what it's meant to the family. Yeah, I'm like, let me not start crying. [ LAUGH ] But it is still raw. I am still in a funk. I sort of thought, am I ready to talk about it? I've had the support of, my incredible family and friends but it's hard, it's hard. I think What I would start with and what I think about, and what I remind myself, every day, is just what an incredible inspiration it was and is to see her have the courage to dare to do something like that. And somebody I heard, mentioned this, just now. But some of the more emotional, both emotional moments and The moments where I really understood the impact and importance, of what we were doing and what she is doing. Were those moments that she was spending with children, and little girls right? In a way that they would look at her, and you could see in their eyes that they could see themselves, right at that is something that they could dare to do. And so, I think I cherish those Aspects of it I know that the work is not over. I was joking with you that as much as I am still emotional about it, it is [ UNKNOWN ], like just seeing her at that Senate hearing today and that amazing pink blazer, just killing it and like I'm back. I never went anywhere. Actually I'm here. I'm never going anywhere and we have a lot of work to do. That's what I needed, you know. And so, I think that's also what I carry with me both in terms of the personal experience and being able to see you know, one of my closest family members do something incredibly courageous and show Women like all of us in this room in addition to those little girls like the possibility right that that is possible and that you know, we are daring to achieve a future that we all proclaim to be true when we say that the future is female, right and that that is something that we are still working towards. So let me ask you a little bit about that, I mean, we the Democratic party started out this campaign season with the probably the most diverse slate that we've ever seen and next week, we're likely to have an all white Debate stage. Give us your expert opinion what happened here? Well, I think you know, we got to be, we have to be really honest right about sort of the dynamics that we are confronting. And as you said, we started out with one of the most diverse slate of candidates in American history right and What a profound, incredible thing to show my daughters, right? And my three year old still says, I wanna be a president, right? And to see that and that representation mattering and now with common was departure where we're gonna have I think Andrew Yang just qualified but Combo had already qualified for the December debate. Then next week we are gonna have Nearly all white panel and debate stage. And I think the sort of things we have to confront honestly are what we saw with her race and what we are seeing with other women is that women are not treated the same. They are held to a different standard and by that I mean a double standard, right? Where They are scrutinized in a different way where they are asked different questions where people, really focus on things and with much more rigor than they do other people. So that's number one. I think we really need to be honest about that. And somebody was saying this just before I came on stage, but like we did talk about this. Right? We have to acknowledge this. We have to, each of us, in our own spheres of influence, and our families, and our communities need to talk about this stuff. We need to talk to our kids about it. And then the other is a harsh reality that has been really stunning to see, which is that the decision, and the access, and the Something like among Fortune 500 CEOs are more male CEOs named James than there are female CEOs, right? This is a problem. [ LAUGH ] And so, and I think about what we have lost in that way, right, and the messages and the signals that we are sending Which are that you can use your voice matters you have access, if you have billions of dollars that's stunning. And you know with her departure I think about what we're missing out on and the obvious or that we're missing out on the only black woman to run for president the only woman of color who is pulling in the top five, who had a real shot who's no longer there because of money. And then also the issues that she was bringing to the table, right? She was bringing light to and voice to issues that we heard from New Hampshire to Iowa, South Carolina and about all across the country that regular people were saying Just sucking that out of the process. And right now the image that we have is one that really troubles me. The moments beyond sort of the personal, and That this, we went into this not thinking it was gonna be easy. Right. We knew this was not gonna be easy and, in fact, that it was gonna be very hard. But the moment that we are in, in this country, when I sit back and look at that, that is what really troubles me. So, yeah, I mean, I want to dig into this a little bit because something that has kept coming up in the campaign, over and over again, is this idea of electability. Mm- hm. Right? And I think that that's a very coded word. What does that mean exactly, and how are people using it in this context? What does it mean, who the hell knows, right? I mean- [ LAUGH ] I think for me, the message is that, and we know this, that you are unelectable until you get elected, right? And Conwell was told that. Every race that she ran right when she dared to run for district attorney of services goes the first black first woman, first black woman to do that, she was told she couldn't do it, right. Same thing for attorney general of California. No one's done this before. You're not electable. You can't do that. I think that, you know, there came a point in the campaign where she started addressing it head on. And saying let's just address this, because we know that it's an issue, and we hear coded language in the media and other places that are basically saying that. And I think it's really not complicated. The fact that she had to address it and have that conversation is, in and of itself, evidence of that double standard, right? That Other people get a presumption whereas she had to have a conversation about it. And, I think again, it kind of goes back to this entire conversation around representation and diversity where we need to create a future that shows what is possible and that I'm electable and that you're electable, that anyone in this room Is that the people who have access to that or the people who are deemed to be worthy of that cannot only be white male billionaires, right? Right, right, so we've been talking about some of the systemic issues here. Tell me a little bit about lessons learned, right? There were some missteps. What do you think kinda going forward The campaign will take away from this if someday she decides to run again. I think, you know, kind of building on what we just talked about. I think about the moments of [ UNKNOWN ], right? And, yes, every campaign makes mistakes and If any of you in this room have worked out early stage startup, it's kinda similar to that, right. Where you're building the plane while you're flying, it is complete chaos and on an actually much more accelerated timeline, right. And we know across campaigns that people have experienced those sorts of issues but I think again, the lessons learned are and I hate to sound cynical. I mean, this is still fresh, it's still raw and I'm still kind of reorienting myself, but what I saw was that we are sending message that women are not allowed to make mistakes and that you have to be perfect, right? And that any little thing that happens We're going to really scrutinize that in a way that other people are not held to that standard. So I think in terms of lessons, it's really going in understanding that that is still the landscape that we are dealing with and being real about that right. I think I see a lot of people now. Grieving and are saddened by her departure and are now saying, Well, the media is erasing so and so or this headline to acknowledge this now we really, really got to say something because we saw what happened. It's like it's too late. Right? We're the Iowa caucuses are three months from now. Right? Like, don't wait to say things like that and it matters. To reach the highest levels of office. We've never had a black female governor. What is it gonna take? What do you think is really gonna just push this forward? It takes all of us. I mean, I think that we saw that with obviously Stacey Abrams, who ran for governor of Georgia. Was up against some pretty nefarious actors, and voter suppression, and things like that. But It takes all of us. I think that we are in a moment of crisis and I don't think that any of us can afford to sit on the sidelines. And Phenomenal woman, my company mean, what we're all about [ UNKNOWN ] saying that any of us can do something and it's Whether that means, contributing money to women of color and committing to that or actually knocking on doors making calls, talking to your kids about this, it doesn't even I think the message as well for phenomenal woman is it doesn't have to be political. I personally think that there is no greater moment, no greater responsibility that we have in presidential cycles to get involved and People always asks like, what can I do? They are like concrete things that you can be doing right now. However, if you don't want to sort of be political, that's okay too, but there are other ways that you can be engaging with these issues, with these communities. And so, I think just conveying that urgency and really understanding that, it actually, I think it goes beyond politics, right? It goes Beyond this moment, we are talking about the future that we are showing to our children and whether or not we're willing to actually commit and lean into paving the way for that to happen. Right? I mean, this is about are we able to, you know, show that it actually is achievable, that these folks actually are electable and that they can reach the highest office in the most powerful position. In the world. And I just think that all of us have to take on that feeling of duty and responsibility to do anything that we can in our sort of ordinary regular lives to be engaged. So before we go to questions, if you could explain to the audience what Phenomenal Women does. Yeah, so we are a women- powered civic organization that raises awareness around social causes. We launched In a similar kind of, I think, urgent moment, coming out of the 2016 election, and it for me was just that right. I felt like I could not possibly sit by the sidelines and that I had to whatever I could, in my own little space do something. And so I actually started off with sort of different pursuit, which we launched a pantsuit. Dr. It was literally like two days after the election. I was at Javits Center in New York City on election. Tonight where everything was happening and it just felt apocalyptic and I went home and I thought, you know, I have this [ UNKNOWN ] that I bought and you know, there's pantsuit nation, all these women had come together like why don't we put this towards something good and engage people and continue that engagement. So it was it stemmed from that right? What else can I do? How can I? First day we sold 2, 500 shirts, I thought we gonna sell like 50. And I know with [ UNKNOWN ] I would still be taking about it still going. And I think the message is what I have been saying today, I kept it going because I felt that. Urgency and I saw the need for it. I saw how it is able to create community among all kinds of different women, right? And for people who again are going out of the ordinary lives, you want to go to brunch on Sundays and like do what you do like that's okay and wearing a T shirt that cost $ 35 that benefits women's organisations like that is an active Of using your voice that is an act of being engaged. And I think all of us need to carry that with us every single day until at least until November 2020. But I hope beyond that. Do we have any questions for Minoh, we have one back here. Great if you could introduce yourself to Hi, I'm Barry Williams. My son was devastated when Kamala dropped out. But his immediate reaction was, well, at least we have Elizabeth Warren and then if she doesn't win, then we have Julián Castro. And I haven't been able to break it to him yet, Julián Castro is not going to really be in contention like Elizabeth Warren. But, something that he and I kind of talked about, and he's nine, Is the lack of diversity that's going to be on the stage. I have watched every single debate with my nine year old and he is very politically student interested. And one thing he asked me is, well, if we saw Hillary lose in 2016. Is it possible to win with another monochromatic ticket? So i would then pass that question to you considering what the debate stage is going to look like. Is that possible? I mean it's possible. We've done it before, right? I mean this is historic that we have a divers slate of candidates. But I'm not gonna get into political strategy cuz I can be here all day with you guys. I would point to How much it breaks my heart that your son is seeing that and asking that question of, can we still succeed when there are people who are gonna be out there leading us that don't look like me and are not representing me, right? And I get emotional, this is like, especially when you have kids. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] It's okay, take a second. [ LAUGH ] Thanks, it's hard, and I think part of, not to give you parent advice, is that Bari? I'm like, I can't you see you very well, it is, my god. The lights are so bright. Hi, I love you You gotta have those conversations and I had moments, even my three years old and almost two years old and I think that the older one was almost two, like one and a half, and we get The New Yorker in our house and there's also a cartoon and often has Trump on it. And one day she said, who is that? And I said, that's Donald Trump and my partner was like no, no, no! Like, we're not gonna, and I was like, we're gonna talk about this, right? I don't care if you are two or three but Fact that you were having those conversations with your son and being honest about that, right, and that we have a lot of work to do, and we still need a fight. And I don't know what the future holds. I'm very concerned. And I think, you know, back to what I was saying that I think it starts with conversations in your home conversations with your children, and acknowledging that this is a problem and that that is not the future I believe in. That is not the future that I aspire to and I think we as country aspire to. And it's a problem. And it's up to each of us to engage with that and talk about it and speak those truths, right. It's what Cromwell talked about, speaking truth. And each of us has power to do that. Would you ever run for office? Hell no. [ LAUGH ] Why not? I'll phrase it in a more positive way. Since launching phenomenal woman have really come to understand sort of like what my My contributions are what my value is. and for me that's really in being an entrepreneur. And I think it goes to the point that each of us have a role to play and that for some of us, it absolutely is at the ballot box, right? But for others, it could be, you know, as an entrepreneur or as a CEO of a company or as an executive at a company that has a lot of influence, right? Each of us can be doing something from our own spaces. I think It's important to have these conversations and to urge women to run for office but I also feel like there's a lot that are missing that is missing for those conversations about how hard it is. And if you are a primary caretaker, what that means for your family, if you are a, you know, bringing in 50 % of the income to your household, how that affects your family, like they're really Real things that I think we need to talk about in terms of women deciding to do that. And the fact that it's a huge risk, right? The odds are against you. But yeah, it's not for me. I will do anything I can from the outside and I've been doing that and this journey with Phenomenal Woman has really Solidified that for me in feeling okay, that I don't have to do it that way. There are other ways that I can engage and that I can contribute and make a difference. Well, even though you're not gonna run for office- [ LAUGH ] We're looking forward to what you do next. Amena, thank you so much. Thank you, thanks for having me. Really appreciate it. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]