Ungovernable Women with Portia Mount
"Ungovernable Women" (formerly The Manifista) dives into the lives and careers of extraordinary women who have redefined success on their own terms. Each episode offers a glimpse into the journeys of trailblazing women who dare to lead audacious, purpose-driven lives and the lessons they learned along the way.
Ungovernable Women with Portia Mount
What’s At Stake for Women with Amy Taylor North
As we approach Election Day 2024, we talk with Amy Taylor North, candidate for House District 74 in the North Carolina House of Representatives. We discuss why she chose to run for office, the decidedly non-political strategies she is employing in her campaign, and what is at stake for women today. Hear how Amy plans to make a difference and represent all people when she is elected.
Have a question or comment? Email us at ungovernablewomen@gmail.com.
Find voter information at www.vote411.org, www.vote.org, and www.866ourvote.org.
Portia Mount on LinkedIn
Tiffany Waddell Tate on LinkedIn
Amy Taylor North Website
Amy Taylor North on Instagram
Hi, I'm Portia Mount, creator and host of Ungovernable Women, formerly the Manifesta Podcast, the lifestyle and career podcast for aspiring women. Our new name reflects our mission to reach even more listeners with stories of women who are breaking boundaries and redefining success. I have a favor to ask you, if you haven't done so already, please rate and subscribe to the pod. Wherever you listen to your podcasts, it boosts our rankings and helps more people discover us. Thanks for tuning in. Welcome to Season 5 of Ungovernable Women, the career and lifestyle podcast for aspiring women ready to break barriers. I'm Portia Mouw and I'm thrilled to be back with my co-host, tiffany Waddell-Tate, ceo of Career Maven Consulting. We've got a new name, but our mission remains stronger than ever helping women find their purpose, lead high-impact careers and meaningful lives. This season will bring you the stories of women who forged their own paths to success. It's our time to shine. Let's dive in.
Speaker 1:We are recording this less than a month before the 2024 presidential election and we've been hearing nonstop about the race, but in many ways, it's the down-ballot races that have an even bigger impact on our lives. So down-ballot races include governor senatorial races, congressional seats, school boards, even town councils. These seats are the ones that really impact our day-to-day lives, and North Carolina is one of the most hotly contested states in this election cycle. So we are so thrilled to welcome Amy Taylor North. She's a North Carolina native. She's a mom to two teen boys, a small business owner.
Speaker 1:She's a North Carolina native. She's a mom to two teen boys, a small business owner. She's a lifelong community advocate and volunteer, and for the last 22 years she's been a connector and an advocate in Winston-Salem-Forsyth County, as an entrepreneur, as an arts innovator she calls herself a history nerd. I've got to learn more about that. I got to learn more about that and, most importantly, especially in this time, a fierce advocate for women and women-owned small businesses. And now she's running for state house seat in District 74 for West Forsyth County. Amy, welcome to the pod.
Speaker 2:Thank you, it's great to be here.
Speaker 3:Amy, I'm really excited to have this conversation with you. It's great to be here, Amy. I'm really excited to have this conversation with you, and I know many of our listeners are probably wondering what motivated you to run for office, especially during a highly contested year, Like. Was there a moment in your life that sparked that decision or compelled you to say I'm going to go and do this?
Speaker 2:So I never planned to do this. I had a moment when Hillary won the popular vote but not the election, when, I like to say, I was elegantly dressed in rage and I said everything else has to stop right now, everything. And I said everything else has to stop right now, everything. I have to go figure out how I can help women win races, like how can I learn, how can I volunteer, what can I do? And so I was working as an editor at an all-woman magazine with a good friend and they kind of covered for me and I found Dee Dee Adams who was running at the time. She was mayor pro tem of Winston-Salem on the city council and I just connected with her really deeply and ended up being her campaign manager and kind of did what I call a year of my American service service to my country. I was never obviously going to be in the military, but it was time for me to do more as a citizen and as a community member to help my local area.
Speaker 2:And I went through a tough divorce and looking back, I look back now at my whole life and didn't know that I'd been in anything. Now, after dealing with a tough loss that you only can count on. You know yourself and that I had a lot more to offer than I thought. Of course, as a mom of two kids, I've given everything to them and to my ex-husband and his career, and this is a time that I finally you know, years ago found my voice and I decided that this was a great place to use it and we just we need change. So I have fewer rights as an American woman now than the day I was born, and that can't. It can't be that way. So I've worked on several campaigns, learned a lot, volunteered in every way through a campaign and thought, well, things are worse now than ever. So I got to do more than ever, and so I sat my boys down and said this is going to be so hard and really ugly, mean things are probably going to be, said and mailed to us and they have.
Speaker 2:But my boys are incredible. They are incredible, very mature for their age, super intelligent and my oldest especially, super compassionate and they have really it's been a great thing for our family. It's the best thing that's ever happened to our family.
Speaker 3:Amy, when you think about the future of North Carolina, what are some of the specific policies or initiatives that you aim to drive forward for our state?
Speaker 2:So I am not sure, because in order to drive anything, you have to be elected. And two, we have to break the supermajority. So I don't hate on any political party, but extremes on both sides do not help us move forward. So, first and foremost, I have to win, because winning this race will break the supermajority.
Speaker 1:Amy, can you explain what a supermajority is for some of our listeners who may not know like what that is and why it's so significant?
Speaker 2:Sure. So I did a little campaign camp with all my young volunteers at the beginning of the summer and we started. You know that we have towns and cities, and then we have counties, and then we have house districts and then, bigger than that, are our Senate districts and then our statewide offices. So we have 120 representatives in the North Carolina State House and in that House of 120, the majority are Republican in both the House and the Senate. So you know every campaign has a strategy and the state party has a strategy and sometimes the state party is not in alignment with what's going on in someone's particular district. Often they are, and they've been supportive.
Speaker 2:But that's been a very interesting thing I've learned is you know you can be a Democrat and be active and be effective without quote unquote being part of the party, because the party does have its own agenda. It's picked people who they think can win and they back them. The thing is in my race I know why I'm going to win and I know where I come from and you know it's hard to communicate that up to the state level. But winning my race and the four or five races that are targeted races for the Democratic Party, who they are funding and helping. I am not one of those, but when I win we will have 60 on both sides of the aisle People who aren't in politics so much. I mean, wow, people who aren't in politics so much. I mean I'm sure they know that two parties right now, and you know it doesn't matter to me right now, and this is another reason I wanted to run. I did not print Democrat on anything. It's not on my website. When I win, I'm representing everybody and I was with my partner for 30 years who was a Republican. I don't hate Republicans. Again, it's the extremes on both sides that are not helping.
Speaker 2:And the guy I'm running against, you know, is an extremist incumbent and none of his kids went to public schools. Yet he, you know he voted to take almost $5 million out of our public school system. He doesn't care about the public schools and eight out of 10 kids go to public schools. So I'm a mom. That's unacceptable. I'm also a woman and he wants a full abortion ban in the state of North Carolina and has been endorsed by Mark Robinson. So they're birds of a feather right. And I know that I'm the David in the David and Goliath story here. I know that it's my first time to run ever, but they are so concerned about me winning because obviously they have a lot riding on this race.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sure.
Speaker 2:That they took me to court, you know, over my residency, to try to take time away from our campaign and they hauled me into the hearing where I was, you know, on there for five hours and they supposedly had all this evidence. Anyway, unanimously I won, you know, that hearing. But it was a real distraction and now I have legal bills that I will have to fund myself because I'm not taking that out of campaign money. So, you know, one of the hard awful realities that I have learned is, you know, there's a reason the majority of people making the laws are older white men.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, say more, say more, say more, say more. Let's dig into that?
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly, this is important. No-transcript. This is important. This is important to understand.
Speaker 2:And listen. Another reason I got into this is because I have met incredible men and women of every age who are doing amazing services for their state, and so I know that there are people doing it for the right reason and that it works, and I want to be one of those servants. But you have to have the time to run for office and I'll just be straight up, real, like the funding, or able to find the funding, Absolutely, Absolutely for his mailers. And so you know, talking about the down ballot point, a lot of people want to host fundraisers or get on board with bigger candidates, right Statewide candidates who are a little more glamorous, and you know it's a more sexy race. Statehouse starts to be, you know, lower on the priority list for a lot of people who do support candidates with their funding and their finances, and a lot of people and I was one of them never gave to politics. You know just, that's kind of the thing everybody hates, right, Money and politics and how that all worked. That's kind of the thing everybody hates right, Money and politics and how that all worked. And so I told myself I'm naturally curious and a risk taker and I just said I won't know until I do this what the real truth is, and so, if nothing else, I need to learn more, find out more.
Speaker 2:And a friend and I were having a conversation in my backyard and we started talking about can you really affect systemic change if you're not part of the system? And she said, of course. And I said I don't think so. And I said why don't we both run for public office and see what happens? She decided not to. Oh, wow, she decided not to. But I know because I decided to run. Other women decided to run, other women decided to run. And it hasn't been a mystery. It has been a lot of hard work. But in person, any career is going to be working night and day, especially if you're an entrepreneur. You're never done. You're never off the clock. It's seven days a week, ever.
Speaker 2:Always on, always on. Yeah, no days off, no days off. It's like that a little bit on steroids, because you're doing it in a public way and you really don't know who's coming after you and a lot of new folks want to be friends with you and you're not sure what that motivation is. So there's a lot of navigating, a lot of different situations, but this has been the best year of my life. I have met so many amazing people. I have learned so much. I mean I've let me share two things.
Speaker 2:One interesting thing is first I went to. I've gone to churches every single Sunday, sometimes two, and I'm not there to talk about myself, I don't introduce myself, I am listening. I've done a one-year listening tour in my district and I went to church one Sunday and the gentleman who was next to me is in his 80s. He asked if I wanted to borrow a pencil to take notes and I first said no and then I said yes. Anyway, he ended up being one of my best volunteers and he went with me to church every Sunday throughout the primary and I had met this man about, you know, two seconds before. He started being by my side and being an amazing supporter and he's Republican and I found after I met and talked with people and circled back, they thought I was a Republican. Someone even said I don't know what this means that I looked like.
Speaker 3:Interesting it might be the hair.
Speaker 1:I don't know, maybe it's the hair, I don't know. That's weird, that's weird, that's weird and random. But okay.
Speaker 2:So I took my team out for pizza after we attended this protest for education. So I took my team out for pizza after we attended this protest for education asking the county commissioners to fund. You know there are two ways schools are funded Through the state, which we have plenty of extra money in North Carolina. But the older white men who don't send their kids to school, don't drive their kids to school, don't go to teacher-parent conferences, they're not so big on funding public schools, they'd rather do other things with our money. And so I have to get in there and stand in the gap for sure for that, and really we need more women to do that.
Speaker 2:But anyway, we were at a pizza place. We're all wearing our campaign t-shirts which just say do more good. Again, no party. And a woman is leaving with her little kid and she puts her head down as she walks out of the restaurant and she said are you the candidate? I said yes, and she said well, I was reading your website while I was waiting for my pizza. And she said I am so glad to finally find a Republican who cares about women. Oh my.
Speaker 3:Oh wow, oh wow To that.
Speaker 2:Amy, I just thanked her for reading my website. She was kind of, had her kid in one arm and her pizza in the other.
Speaker 2:Nice pivot, nice pivot and she was just, you know, walking on, so she was not stopped. You know she was just whispering and off she went. But I just said thank you so much for reading my site. And that goes to the second thing, which are the yard signs. We started to talk about this earlier, but everything I have done in this campaign has been intentional. Everything I have done in this campaign has been intentional. I typically don't do anything that's not, you know, not intentional.
Speaker 2:It was really important to me to have yard signs that were different, because I'm different. It was really important that the yard signs not be visibly for one side or the other, because when I win, I'm representing everyone. Also, my yard signs are mostly red and they have a blue thin line around them. I wanted people to go find out about me and not make assumptions about me, because this is my campaign, I'm doing things differently. And a round sign to me also signifies inclusion and connectedness.
Speaker 2:And I don't mean to be super Pollyanna, but in my heart of hearts and I was raised this way, you know, in the church, you know, my parents would say we're not on this planet to be entertained, we're here to serve. Just look out for each other. That all of this political hullabaloo wouldn't infect us so much. I mean, if someone falls in the middle of the street, you're not asking them what party do you vote for before you decide to help them. Right, if we could just be more connected to each other and what's going on around us, I really think a lot of this national division would not be so extreme.
Speaker 3:Amy, I definitely agree with you on. We are all called to support one another. I also kind of want to dig in a little bit for our listeners, who may come from a variety of backgrounds and lived experiences, and ask you like, let's imagine ourselves on the other side of a win and you're representing all people across our state. What do all people across our state really need? I've heard you mention public school access and equity. I've heard you mention some other things, but I don't want to assume that our listeners really understand what you mean when you drop those nuggets in the chat. So what are some of the things that you envision for our future where everyone feels included and everyone is kind of served right, like? There are some things that would be really specific. You know, and I know you, but I want to make sure that everyone doesn't miss that point. Can you share some of those thoughts with us?
Speaker 2:Sure. Well, my top few things definitely are breaking the supermajority so that we do have equity in the House, so that we can vote and everybody's vote matters in the House. I mean people don't think their vote at the ballot box matters, it matters. I mean Rachel Hunt won her first race for Senate by 46 votes. Yeah, every vote matters, every vote.
Speaker 1:Say that again, Amy, for the vote counts.
Speaker 2:Every vote counts.
Speaker 1:To win by 46 votes is literally like several street blocks right, like that is a big big deal. So such an important point.
Speaker 2:And so to get back to kind of policy fully funding our schools. So there was a court case that's been going on for over 30 years called Leandro. There's a lot of money set aside for public schools. There's also just money budgeted for public schools, but that keeps getting smaller because we are outnumbered and the votes to put money to our public schools aren't there. We get outvoted anytime it comes to public school funding. Our teachers are now third from the bottom nationally for their wages. We have to have competitive wages to keep good people in our public schools, because eight out of 10 kids go there.
Speaker 2:And what people don't realize is that everything's connected. Again back to the yard signs. When your schools are not fully funded and the teachers and the students don't have the resources they need, there will be a decline and that decline will affect our economy. So the three things education, equity and the economy If our schools aren't good, businesses are not going to move here. They're not going to bring jobs here. They want good public schools for their kids. While that lowers, then bad schools keep people from bringing jobs here, work here, but also it drives down your property value. If your schools aren't good, people don't want to live there, help throughout North Carolina, especially in Forsyth County. But if we don't have enough people in office to make those investments, to make decisions and vote yes for those things universal pre-K, affordable housing, I mean, I could go on and on.
Speaker 2:The reality is I am a first-time candidate. I don't know everything and I have some ideas, but my job is to represent. It's in the job title. You are a representative for your district and my district is all of West Forsyth, so a little bit of Winston and then all of West Forsyth, a little bit of Winston and then all of West Forsyth. And so, yes, what I want to do is important and what I value is important.
Speaker 2:But I've been doing a listening tour for a full year now so that I can hear what people want, and I've gone to all different kinds of spaces, not just churches. But I'm hearing very interesting things. Like, the guy I'm running against voted to expand these public school vouchers and I don't even know that. Most people know who they are. If you're connected to education or you're a teacher, you probably know, but I don't know that everybody knows get these vouchers and they are now between $6,000 and $7,000 a year to go to private schools. So that takes public school money $6,000 to $7,000 per kid away from the school's budget and gives it to these private schools. Some are religious schools, some are private schools.
Speaker 1:Amy, I was going to say a lot and a lot. Many, many are really to, so that kids can go to a private Christian school too, right?
Speaker 2:Exactly. And that's where it all kind of comes to that, how everything is connected and these older white men have agendas right. They don't like anybody else taking their power away. They don't like talking about things that don't benefit them, and I'm not a man hater, I'm just saying the majority of people voting on things don't represent the majority of the people who live here in so many ways. I mean the average age. I didn't know this before I ran for office. The average age in our district is 34.
Speaker 1:So, amy, I want to, you know, maybe jump in here and ask you a question here, because I think one of the things that you're sort of alluding to but which is very relevant for our state is North Carolina. The demographics of the state overall have changed significantly. Right, north Carolina is largely a rural state, but we have pockets Charlotte area, piedmont area, that we're in the triangle which, raleigh-durham, which, for those of our listeners who don't live in the state so, and we're seeing many, many more people and younger people move into the state. I think I saw a stat that said something like 100,000 people a year are moving here. But what I'm also hearing you say is the demographic of our representation has not changed at the rate of the population itself. So you really have this mismatch between who's in elected office and who they're representing. And so your statement about breaking the supermajority right, which is to be able to have more diverse sort of break the fever, if you will, to have more diverse voices that can represent us, is very powerful.
Speaker 1:I want to ask you about reproductive freedom, because it's on the ballot. Literally every state, I think correct me if I'm wrong, I think we have 47 states have some type of restriction in place or a complete ban, and we're seeing those complete bans, particularly here in the South, and I'm just wondering your perspective on what you know for a woman who's listening and is like I don't care about supermajority, I don't have kids, so I'm not really in particularly concerned about. You know, education right now although we all should be as well as libraries as well, I'd throw in there but you know what's at stake for women from your perspective in terms of reproductive freedom, because this is something I think we have to continue to really drill down on.
Speaker 2:Right. I mean, it is a huge topic nationally and, as most people know, North Carolina is a swing state and there's a lot of attention right now on Mark Robinson and his views.
Speaker 1:He's the lieutenant governor who's currently running for governor. I would say running for governor, but he is the Republican candidate for governor in the state of North Carolina and the state of North Carolina.
Speaker 2:Correct and he's you know again, labels and R's and D's don't mean as much anymore. But he is another example of an extremist right. So what women have to lose is basically everything. If he wins, we are losing our healthcare choices, our reproductive choices, our freedom. I mean freedom is 100% on the ballot this year and you know it used to be Republicans, didn't? They wanted government to stay out of their business and now they're creeping, you know, into our bedrooms and our bodies and know, in my opinion, the government has no business making decisions about a human's body and what happens to it. That's a health care decision and it's just no politician to be telling anyone what to do. So we have to break the super majority and we need more women to to be advocates and stand in the gap between people who are trying to take away our freedom and people who are trying to defend it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We know from history, you take one thing away and a slippery slope begins. You start with one thing and then other things, and so we have to hold off this attempt to destroy democracy. I mean it's that. It is that heavy 100%. It is that heavy it is that important 100%.
Speaker 3:What I'm hearing is everyone should vote, women should turn up in droves and vote in our interests. But I want to ask a question that I think, for those of us that are civically engaged and it's sort of part of our friends and families, vibe like we're all going to vote. Many of our listeners, I pray, will show up and vote, but there are also a lot of people really turned off from engaging in politics, especially in 2024. So can you talk a little bit about what you would say to someone who's feeling discouraged or not feeling very hopeful about the election season? What would you say to that person if you were chatting with them in a coffee shop today?
Speaker 2:I mean literally. It is that every vote matters. People have died for your right to vote, so we need to be exercising that because it does make a difference. Every vote makes a difference. Back to the. You know the ballot and the down ballot races. I don't know that people realize that the state house races and down, like you said, all the way to school board. Those representatives, those elected officials, make 90% of the decisions about how you live, where you live, how your schools are run, how your community functions. I mean, the guy I'm running against also sponsored the bill where now every election you have to declare your partisanship before you run, and that only fosters division. If you're going to be on the school board or on the city council, you're there to take care of your community or your kids or your schools, and I just I don't think quote unquote politics, you know, have a place there. We should all be looking for the best interest of everybody, which is kind of the underlying theme of my campaign, right? So I just don't feel like his views represent the majority of people who live here. So it's just don't forget that on the ballot there are two sides. Flip your ballot over and vote.
Speaker 2:There are so many sites that you can go to. There's a great organization in this community called Women of Action. They started in 2016 as a nonpartisan group to educate, woman to woman, friend to friend, coworker to coworker, about what roles and responsibilities go with each role of each campaign, each office, and they have made a kind of voting guide that is distributable via text, and so these people have turned into the go-to person, the 411, for elections in this area, because they know when the dates are, you know to early vote, they know all the rules, they know keep up with the registration, they are aware of the candidates and they can help provide that information. They do not say who to vote for, they just make everything accessible and easy, and I think when things are easy, more people are willing to do it. And also, if you're talking to a friend you already trust, you already know, and they happen to bring up some of these topics. That's kind of how we get everybody to the idea that politics is personal.
Speaker 2:It affects your life, you may say, oh, I don't care about politics, I don't want to talk about politics, or you know, politics are are bad straight up politics determine how you live your, how, how you can live your life, and so it is personal, and so your vote is important and you need to be voting for what matters most to you and know you know, obviously, so know who you're voting to. My son got to vote for me in the primary which is the coolest thing ever to be on the candidate, but he was like mom Mary which is the coolest thing ever to be on the candidate but he was like Mom. I didn't know some of the other people right on the ballot. We should have an app where everybody can find out you know who the other people are and it makes it easy. So I view this kind of voter guide as that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:I think one of the things that you're pointing out too and we have many listeners here in North Carolina, but many who are other places in the United States or actually even the world so I think one is pretty much every community has its own version of Women of Action, right? It's some kind of nonpartisan group designed to just help voters make more informed decisions. In the show notes we're going to post some links to some national organizations that will help, you know, can help people find who their local organizations are, tends to have a voter guide. But you're also pointing out something really important, which is, you know, I've been a voter for a long time.
Speaker 1:Tiffany, I don't know if you've noticed you know you talked about how your son looked at the ballot and was like, oh my God, there's all of these people I've never heard of, and I think that it's more.
Speaker 1:You know, it's more important than ever that people educate. What I'm hearing you say is educate themselves as to who's running to represent you, because those where it's a health commission or who's running your libraries, like those, like that impacts what books you might be getting right now. And so I want to ask you because, as I'm listening to you, I'm like this is a woman like your passion and your mission is so clear. And I'm also wondering, like, and you talked about it's been the best year of your life, and you've also talked about how really challenging it is. And it's not that I want you to like, I don't want us to necessarily sort of get grounded in the negativity, but I'm just wondering, like, if you could, we talked about what's at stake. You've talked about the difficulties of just the challenges of running, raising money, but what has been? You know, as you kind of look back over this last year of campaigning, what's been most rewarding and then what's been most challenging.
Speaker 2:I think most rewarding is meeting so many people, listening to so many people. I've always done that, naturally. So again, I think in retrospect, I've kind of been practicing to do this role for a long time. I just genuinely love people and hearing their stories. People and hearing their stories and the surprise when you have made an assumption and then listen and what you thought is not true and we're reminded of that.
Speaker 2:People are people. They all want to be heard, they want to be taken care of well you by their community. These are not way out there needs. I mean. These are doable things.
Speaker 2:So the listening tour, I think, has been one of the best and seeing the best. People who barely know me identify with what I'm saying as far as unity, community working together, and that has brought people together. And there are people I've talked with forever and they never once asked me what party I'm running for. They just like what I'm saying and they find the positivity, the enthusiasm, I think, refreshing. And you know I'm not a politician, so I think that, and you know I'm not a politician, so I think that that that's important. And I think the most challenging is lots of people have lots of opinions on how things should be done and a lot of people who love you, you know, think that they know what's best you know for you or your campaign. And it's just been very important to me to be true to myself, follow my gut.
Speaker 2:A lot of people, again, in a lot of different places, have thoughts about how you should do something. Oh my God, you're definitely going to lose your. Your yard signs are red. Oh my gosh, you need to wear this. Why aren't you wearing red? I never see, I mean blue. I never see you in blue. I always see you in red.
Speaker 1:I'm like I look good. You look amazing in red, by the way, you look amazing in red.
Speaker 2:Yeah, red is definitely your color. We just have to change everything. We need to change the way we think about politics. We need to get out. You know, this is 2024. We need to be doing politics differently. I worked at the fair last year at the voting booth and someone said, oh, so we should talk to Republicans too. And I said I had to take a walk right Because the mindset most of the people who have the time to do the research and help the we do things.
Speaker 2:It has to change. Doing the same thing, expecting different results right, we all know what that is the definition for. And so we have to do things differently, we have to think differently, and that's a challenge that both parties are going to have to wrestle with. And it sounds kind of Pollyanna, but I swear. Doing the right thing, doing good in your community, feels good to people and I think that's an attraction.
Speaker 1:It's not Pollyanna, amy. I think people want more of that. I think people want more connection and collaboration and cooperation, and so and it needs critical mass of people like you running for office. You know, I think we're seeing it, certainly at the level of the presidential campaign, of talking about how do we bridge divides, and so I, I hope people who are listening to you and hearing just how truly sincere you are about I mean, it's a pretty powerful statement to say, look, I don't put my political affiliation, political party, on any of my campaign materials, because I'm serving everybody. That is a statement.
Speaker 1:Imagine if the next group of people who run for office do the same thing, which is, look, I mean, I have to check a box, maybe for the purpose of the state, but I'm here to represent everybody. And so I just, I hope people so few of us know people running for office and we. That's why we wanted to hear your, we wanted to bring your voice to this, because we are really hardened and we collectively, as a nation, are very hardened in our opinions. And I think if, when you hear someone who truly is like, look, I'm learning, I'm listening, I'm going to listen to what my community is telling me that's really powerful. It's really powerful, so we like to do. Oh, you look like you want to say something, amy.
Speaker 2:The best things that have come from this. You know, yes, I intend to win.
Speaker 1:I love and I love that Claim, that statement, claim it. We believe very much in like speaking things into existence. So speak it into existence.
Speaker 2:The first thing I do is envision Speak it into yes. Right, exactly.
Speaker 1:Speak it into existence.
Speaker 2:And. But I have taken young people with me on this journey, again very intentionally, because younger folks don't typically vote, but when they hear it from other young people they are more likely to be engaged. Also, no one on my campaign had ever worked on a campaign before. So you know, in May we did campaign camp, we put up the map, we talked about things, concepts, ideas, why we do this, why we don't do that. They have to learn what I've learned over the past several years from other people and I do say I stand on the shoulders of other women and other people, men and women, who have done this work before me, because it's a no-joke job and nobody knows to be really in it. Yeah, so I'm really proud that our team has learned so much. It's also really hard for me to let go of things and so to give my social media over to a 23 year old, to let a 23 year old I would give my social media over to a 23 year old.
Speaker 1:I'm just saying, I'm going to put it out.
Speaker 2:I'm joking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I know, you see all those memes like oh God, yeah.
Speaker 2:You kind of have to go with it because you know if you have um older my kids have gotten their, their brains obviously just work differently and they absorb things and know things that I won't ever understand. So, trusting them to use all those weapons for good and connect everybody and go with what they're hearing and what sounds authentic I mean we sat around one day just talking about what text would you send out to young people in Forsyth County about me, and we went around, oh, say this, oh, say that it was a huge, great learning gathering for us and that brings me a lot of joy. And also Kamala Harris. You can tell her when you meet her. We do need to spread the joy.
Speaker 1:We'll let her know when we're at the inauguration in January.
Speaker 2:We do need to spread this joy. We do need to come together. What you see on the news is entertainment. It is not news. You know, the more divided and the more angry they can keep people, the more ads they sell. And so we see and we read and we take in all of this on both sides. Turn off your everything for the next three weeks and knock some doors or make some phone calls yeah, go Canvas.
Speaker 1:Yeah, phone bank. Yeah, do something. Don't rage tweet. No rage tweeting, though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, I mean, the biggest lesson I've learned this from 2016 and on, is show up. You cannot do anything if you do not show up.
Speaker 1:We need everybody's show up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, amy, so I'm going to pivot us really quickly to the final segment of our show. We love for our listeners to get to know the people behind the roles and the positions. We've learned so much from you today about what it takes to step into the courageous space of running for office, what brought you there, what you care about. But we want to make sure people know a little bit more about Amy just in the world. So we're going to ask you a couple of questions. This is kind of a lightning round. Don't overthink it. Just tell us the first thing that comes to your mind. Okay, all right. First question you are accepting a huge award, or maybe it's the day after the win. We don't know. What is your walk on song? Oh well, can I have two? Sure, break the rules, amy. Break the rules.
Speaker 1:She's ungovernable, tiffany, she's ungovernable. Really good at that. He's uncomfortable.
Speaker 2:Really good at that. Unstoppable is one of them, and the Beyonce song.
Speaker 3:Oh, Beyonce Freedom.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, kamala's claimed it, kamala's claimed it.
Speaker 3:But yeah, we love Beyonce on this podcast Portia you're next.
Speaker 1:We really do and we say this almost every episode that Tiffany and Beyonce are both Virgos.
Speaker 3:And we have the same birthday.
Speaker 1:And they have the same birthday. Yes, yes, I was going to get to that too, tiffany. Yes, because she doesn't ever let me forget that she and Beyonce share a birthday. It makes them like, basically, sisters, basically, basically sisters, yes, yes. So, amy, what's one book you find yourself recommending or gifting repeatedly?
Speaker 2:So it's a book that I read in high school.
Speaker 2:It has nothing to do with politics A Room with a View Because it's a coming age story of a young woman who's been told how to think her entire life and she's waking up to the fact uh virginia wolf, she needs to make uh ian forster actually, oh ian forster, ian forster, I was like okay, ian forster, yeah you know, make her mind up about what she believes is important and kind of finding her way in the world and it is romantic and, yeah, just really powerful about oh, it's a movie many, many, many, many years ago finding her way in the world and it is romantic and, yeah, just really powerful about it.
Speaker 1:Oh, it was a movie many, many, many, many years ago. Right, yeah, okay, yep, okay.
Speaker 3:What is the best purchase under $150 you've ever made?
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, boots, boots, boots. I bought some boots, they may be not Brand brand.
Speaker 1:We must know more Details.
Speaker 2:I have worn them for over 10 years now. Yeah, big, Not big, but tall To the knees tall boots.
Speaker 3:Knee high boots. We like a knee high boot. We like a knee high boot, not big but tall to the knees. Tall boots, ooh. Knee-high boots, ooh Ooh.
Speaker 1:Right on. Ooh, we like a knee-high boot. We like a knee-high boot.
Speaker 3:Amy, what is a hobby that you have that will surprise everybody. You know, I am a scuba diver.
Speaker 2:Oh, and I love it. Wow, being under the water so far below just reminds you how small you are in the big scheme of things, and it's so quiet and peaceful. I mean, there's literally a whole other world down there and I think we walk through our regular day without knowing that or having found that, and it's just a great space to be.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful. And, amy, last question for you how would you define the word ungovernable? We recently rebranded the pod to be called Ungovernable Women. What does ungovernable mean to you?
Speaker 2:Freedom. You know you can't be governed by other people's opinion. You need to be true to yourself and have the freedom to do what you know you need to do for yourself.
Speaker 1:It's a perfect way to close this out. Amy Taylor North, thank you so much for joining us today and we look forward to celebrating your victory on November 5th or maybe the day after the election. Just thank you for the gift of your time, your passion for community and your dedication to women and families. We appreciate you.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to Ungovernable Women. Our producer and editor is Megan King. Our social media manager is Destiny Eicher. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you listen to your pods. Your ratings help other listeners find us. You can follow and DM us on Instagram at ungovernablexwomen, and TikTok at ungovernablexwomen. See you next time.