so let's start from the beginning what
was it like growing up and I'm spending
time outside of the United States and in
particularly in Iran well I was born in
Iran and everybody always says well why
on earth were you born in Iran and other
than the fact that my parents were there
which is the obvious reason this the
stories a little complicated but I guess
it boils down to this my father who was
a physician and I had after finishing
his residency joined the army and after
a couple years in the army he was
looking for a job at a major academic
teaching institution in the United
States he wanted to do research and his
specialty of pathology and genetics and
he could not find a job comparable to
his white counterparts and so he and my
mom who let's say very interested in
doing things outside their comfort zone
decided to look for job opportunities
outside the United States and my father
landed a job offer at the namazi
Hospital which was a brand-new Hospital
hadn't even opened up yet in shiraz iran
sharing the Department of Pathology so a
job that was not available to him in his
own country and so he and my mom picked
up at one halfway across the world and I
was the second baby born in the namazi
Hospital they practiced on some other
baby first work I can't tell you how
that went but it went okay with me and
we lived there until I was five and from
there my father do I started doing
research in Iran and it caught the
attention of some folks at the golden
labs at University College of London and
my parents were beginning to think it
was time to start going back home my mom
and was homesick for her family and I
think they both missed the United States
and they thought well why not
take advantage of this job offer to go
to the GALT in labs for a year so off he
went there and from there he started
doing research again and his research
got the attention at some international
conference of the Dean of the University
of Chicago Medical Center and so he
landed a tenured track position
in my mother's hometown in the same
neighborhood where my grandmother and
her other daughter and our whole
extended family lived and my father used
to always say to me growing up that
sometimes the shortest distance to where
you really want to go means you better
be prepared to take the long way around
and they sure did take that long way
around and that's where we live but for
me coming to the United States was like
going to a foreign country and I was
already kind of shaken up going to
London and then here my parents is so
excited about going back home but it
wasn't familiar to me and thank goodness
I have this large extended family that
you know so well that made me in short
order feel like it was home but I will
say this and I say this to people who
have at some point in their life felt
like the other the only that when I was
plopped down in this public school in my
neighborhood and I had a British accent
it only takes one year to develop a
British accent and I'm speaking Farsi
French and English and you know I got
red hair and freckles and light skin and
I was 2 years ahead of myself in school
why you see up beat up every day every
single day for any one of those reasons
and so what did I do I stopped speaking
Farsi I lost that British accent the
first week and I stopped all I stopped
telling my story about being born in
Iran and the first I would say 20 plus
years of my life no one had heard of
Iran and then after President Carter
went through the hostage hostage crisis
everyone had heard of Iran and it kind
of went downhill from there to today and
so for a long time I just shied away
from a very important part of who I was
and I learned a lot about the United
States living in an underdeveloped
country where we didn't have the
advantages we have here in terms of
either clean food and you know water let
alone civil liberties and also I just
felt that it gave me a perspective on
the world that sometimes when you only
know the United States you think it's
yeah it's the greatest country already
on earth but it's not the only country
on Earth we can learn a great deal
outside of our shores and so those
lessons that I learned were really
important lessons and I never talked
about them this is true and then you
finally opened up you started opening up
and kind of owning my story right and
part of why my book is called fine
my voices I think oftentimes we don't
listen to the quiet voice inside of us
and don't trust it and it's actually the
most important one but we also don't use
our voice to share our story because
when we do that people discover who we
are and my book I have the good the bag
ugly all of it because without it you
wouldn't really know who I am
another point that I thought was really
interesting is that your parents took
the risk to go outside of the country
for opportunities yes you had all of the
opportunities and took the risk to take
a different one so take us back to that
special moment in your office where
you're arguably at the peak of your
career you go to you go to these
phenomenal schools you're in this career
a legal career you're being recognized
you're doing well and you say this isn't
it so take us to that point where you
first heard that voice that encouraged
you to take a risk so I begin my book
with a story of sitting on the 79th
floor of what was then called the Sears
Tower in Chicago who's the tallest
building in our city magnificent views
of Lake Michigan and I would turn my
back to the door and I would close the
door and I'd look out the window and I
would just cry and the reason why I was
crying is that when I was in college ten
years earlier I had come up with a ten
year plan and it went I don't know how
many of you came up with plans coming
out of school by definitely I had that
and I didn't really know what I wanted
to do but I felt like everybody else had
a plan I needed a plan too so my plan
went something like this I was gonna go
right to law school I picked law school
because well I had started out pre-med
and two things happen the same semester
my boyfriend who was in medical school
took me to his anatomy class and at the
same time I was taking organic chemistry
the word nuff said about my medical
school back so then I thought well maybe
I should go to business school but there
was this really good party the night
before the GMAT
I never actually made it to the GMAT
exam I do wish I had gone to business
school that would have come in handy but
my best friend went to law school and
she was 2 years older than I and she
said go to law school to buy you time
and you'll discover something passionate
about the practice of law so my plan was
go right to law school discover that
passion probably move back home to
Chicago because my I'm an only child and
I missed my family fall in love get
married and have a baby by 30 thinking
about that biological clock it takes
later now for those of you who are
thinking about that don't worry so much
about it they have ways to help and then
live happily ever after because what
more could you want in life than that so
I went right to law school I moved to
Chicago and I went to a really good
excellent law firm and I discovered that
I was really interested in real estate
law which that firm didn't have and so I
went to an even better law firm
I married lianna knows this story
figuratively the boy next door in that
our moms grew up in the same apartment
building that my grandfather managed our
fathers were very good friends our
grandmothers were good friends he was a
doctor my father was a doctor I'd had a
crush on him since I was 8 and he was 12
in fact I used to go to church with my
grandmother just because he was an altar
boy and he literally never looked at me
once until I was 25 and then we were to
cut one of my cousin's weddings and he
came out of the chapel and he looked
right at me and I thought I'm gonna
marry you that's about how much thought
I gave it and so what could go wrong
boy-next-door plenty and I'm sat right
the planner so I know I did have my
daughter Laura just shy of my 29th
birthday and Laura almost four weeks ago
turned me into the best position of life
which is grandmother
very excited about god she's 33 and will
be up here in a couple of weeks I can
hardly wait so that's the one thing I
did do perfectly but I I was in this law
firm and everyone around me thought oh
my gosh it's so fancy and you have your
own assistant and you got you know
beautiful view of Lake Michigan and a
highfalutin clients what's wrong with
you and I really thought to myself I
should be happy everybody tells me I
have the perfect life my friends are
envious of me but I am miserable and I
started listening to the quiet voice
inside of me and some of you will
remember Mayor Harold Washington he was
the first african-american mayor of
Chicago and he had just been reelected
to second term in office and I had like
knocked on doors for him he barely knew
who I was the only reason he would have
known me was because my father-in-law
was a very good friend of his and I
admired him from afar and with his first
election I started focusing on city
government in a way I never had before
and I think it's just it wasn't relevant
to my life I didn't feel in the affinity
to the prior mayor's and I just I didn't
even know how you got basic services who
picked up your carburetor child the snow
was removed how the budget I knew
nothing I don't think ivy knew who my
alderman was until he was elected but in
his first term I started paying
attention and when he was reelected a
very dear friend of mine said why don't
you consider public service you are so
miserable doing what everybody else
thinks you should do why don't you do
something where you'll be a part of
something bigger than yourself well
you'll feel a broader purpose in life
and so I walked out of that office in
City Hall and I remember my first in the
big law firm I remember my first day
walking into City Hall for reasons I
don't remember my mother drove me to
work which seems kind of odd I'm full
grown and I don't know why she gave me a
ride to work
but maybe it was so when she pulled him
to the front of City Hall she could say
I can't believe I paid all that tuition
for you to go and work here really she
thought I'd lost my mind and it wasn't
honestly until she would admit about
five years ago I finally said there
don't you think it was the right move
and she says well maybe things worked
out all right yeah
but I was way off course and and I said
to my parents look what you did I'm sure
that their families weren't very happy
when they went to Iran I said I'm just
going down the street to City Hall but I
walked in that first day Valerie and I
felt I'm alone I walked into my my
apartment my office and my boss met me
and reception he said let me take you to
your office but he did air quotes which
is never a good sign when somebody does
air quotes and so I like what does he
mean so I go to the bowels of the agency
and there is my cubicle with a window
facing an alley and I did do a little
like gut check because I taken a cut and
pay and all that and I thought you know
what this is gonna work out that's great
I never looked back
that's fantastic so a lot of people know
that you're supposed to listen to the
voice and they sometimes even hear it
but what gave you the courage and Trust
it to trust it in to act on it and what
would you tell people how would you
advise those who have the voice but it
just definitely afraid of the unknown
well one of the things that motivated me
to act on it was I was miserable so
there's nothing like being very
miserable in fact I often think well
what if I had been just like a little
miserable my I have stayed in eve of a
marriage or in the law firm so I was
good and miserable and I think it was my
friend pushing me and he said we all
need a nudge sometimes and so but you
that means you have to open up and tell
your friends how you feel and your
family how you feel you can't just
pretend like I've got this and
everything is perfect if inside of you
you're miserable and that's what they're
there for there to be a sounding board
and you have and I think ultimately like
what do you have to lose like save it
hadn't worked out I probably could go
back to a law firm right that's true
it's not like you can't go back but you
just would never know if you don't take
these chances and so I think one of the
lessons that I talked about extensively
in my book is that early in my career I
was painfully shy very quiet never spoke
up in class and as I said didn't really
have a plan so I made up a plan and I
craved the comfort of kind of the
straight line and I had to learn to
appreciate the magic and the adventure
of the zigzag and I looked back over my
life now it makes perfectly good sense
at the time each of these changes I made
didn't necessarily make sense and so in
the end it adds up and I think why
wouldn't you take a chance from time to
time and we do allow our sale our selves
to stay in either misery or almost worse
mediocrity my eight points don't don't
do that have a purposeful life and it
doesn't really matter I mean you've got
to find everybody's got something
different that their voice is telling
them is their passion and it doesn't
mean every day is perfect when you
follow that passion I've had some really
hard days following my passion but I do
feel like it was purposeful and
meaningful to me right that's beautiful
when President Obama was in office this
was in the wake of Michael Brown yeah he
convened a group of experts which
included everyone from and you may have
seen him on the news police chief Ramsey
he was a second in command in Chicago
and then ran the police department in
Philadelphia and put into practice in
Chicago and Philadelphia community
policing we had academic experts we had
faith leaders and we had young activists
include including a young woman named
Brittany PAC net who was from Ferguson
and had worked for Teach for America and
began the demonstrations in Ferguson
after Michael Brown's death and we
really wanted to develop a template for
best practices to give to local law
enforcement because the federal
government all we really had were
strings that we could attach to money
that we gave local law enforcement and
also technical expertise and funding for
for example body cameras I mean one of
the reasons why we are now seeing so
much of what has always existed between
black boys and men and police department
around our country is because it's being
captured on video laQuan McDonald's his
death was captured on video and so our
thought it was that one of the many ways
to protect good police and make sure
that they're being held accountable is
body cameras and the federal government
was paying helping to pay for body
cameras that's one of the
recommendations it was in this report
but I think if I were to some of the
most important recommendation it was
community policing the police have to
get out of their cars and into the
community because in so many of our
communities because this bond of trust
has been breached residents will not
help the flow
do their jobs and they are they don't
trust the system and let me tell you now
that I know as much as I do about the
criminal justice system the tip of the
iceberg is improving the relationship
between police and communities of color
there is so much that is inhumane about
our current current criminal justice
system we have 5% of the world's
population and 25% of the world's and
people who are incarcerated 2.2 plus
million people in our country 600,000
are released every year but released
into what I mean are they gonna get
hired do they have the training that
they need no opportunities right not to
mention the folks who go to jail I mean
we just recently saw another report
coming out of Ferguson where even though
we filed a pattern and practice well
entered into a consent decree with the
city because we found a pattern and
practice of discriminatory behavior
where the police were using ticketing in
Ferguson as a revenue generator because
they and they were targeting primarily
poor people who were disproportionately
black why because they knew if they had
a broken taillight they couldn't fix it
and so then what happens when you don't
fix it well then you get a bench warrant
and then you go to court on your bench
warrant or you don't show up because you
can't leave your job and say you missed
it and then there's a warrant for your
arrest and then what do they do they
pick you up and they take you to jail
and then there's bail well if you
couldn't fix the tailpipe how you gonna
pay your bail we can and so you on
average in our country is an interesting
statistic and I'm not much on data in
terms of trying to convince people but I
think this will get your attention so in
the course of the year 11 million
Americans circle through our jails which
is where you go awaiting trial of the 11
million they stay an average of 23 days
Wow so first of all just imagine what
happens in your life in 23 days if you
were a single mom or dad what happens to
your children what happens to your job
meanwhile while those 23 days are
ticking let's say it was because you
hadn't paid a fee the interest and
penalty continued to accumulate at the
end of the 23 days only 5% are convicted
and sentenced to more time than they've
already served Wow
only 5% so you have to ask yourself do
they actually belong in jail
if you're not going to keep them there
longer than 23 days are they a threat to
society no you know what there they are
they're poor that's what they are
and so ending those practices I think
are important as well but I but overall
in terms of the policing communities as
I said earlier police are simply a part
of our community and until we can start
to trust one another and rely on one
another and until the police demonstrate
that that we should have confidence in
them and until we are able to trust them
and treat them with respect they deserve
to go home safe as well - and until we
have a system with the integrity and
transparency so that people know that
there's accountability I mean I think
that if I were to sum up the need of
governed most importantly we need to
know that government is accountable to
us and right now I think there's such a
breach of trust at the state local and
federal level that there isn't that
level of trust and how do we recapture
that that's the question that we really
need to pose to ourselves and demand of
our leaders so take us through that path
and bring us if you will to that moment
that really painful moment that
everybody who's even slightly empathetic
felt for you and was very upset by this
crazy comment they came comparing you to
a monkey well so practice I think is the
best part of there are many reasons why
I'm so glad I took the job in city
government obviously to meet the Obamas
but also one of the lessons that I
learned in city government is that what
talked me about service and about the
fact that it's not about you it's about
the people you're there to serve and the
good thing about local government is
that you cannot actually get away from
your constituents but they follow you to
the grocery store they follow you to the
dry cleaners you take your daughter to
the park
they're right there 24/7 they have your
phone number they know we live and
that's as it should be and it was really
good practice to have people come up to
me all the time telling me what they
thought we should be doing better for
them and one of my jobs in the mayor's
office that Michelle Robinson also did
when she started there is that people
would show up them at the mayor's office
demanding to see the mayor well just put
yourself in that mindset how mad do you
have to be to take off work or get a
babysitter take public transit
come down to City Hall will you have no
appointment and demand to see the mayor
you are really mad you got smoke coming
out of your ears and so my job was to go
out there obviously I'm not the mayor so
a big disappointment just when I walk
out the door and put my arm around them
and take them in my office and try to
and to listen mm-hmm
the first job of service is to listen
and then solve their problem and I think
those early experiences of taking heat
and absorbing it and letting it and I
and I'm the book I call it absorbing
pain without it making you numb or
debilitating you you you've got and that
music that sometimes the criticism is
totally justified and you better listen
to it and sometimes the people are just
like you know completely out to lunch
and you don't have to listen to it but
you have to treat people with respect
and we used to kind of joke you know
there are people who demonstrate in
front of the White House every single
day and I want to say to them don't
demonstrate in front of the White House
because our offices actually face the
back except when we're coming in and out
of the gates but I used to often want to
stop and just say the door is open you
don't have to demonstrate I'll actually
listen to you come inside and talk to us
and to try to change that paradigm so
people don't think of governments having
to be combative but actually a
partnership was what we tried to do and
so when you do that then again as I said
earlier it's not about you and if it's
not about you then some tweet coming
across the transom from a stranger
doesn't not hurt it doesn't it can't you
can't let that stuff because it's a
distraction another good example would
be like when President Obama gave his
first joint address to Congress the
topic was the Affordable Care Act he and
he galvanized everybody and had the
media attention talked about the
Affordable Care Act so topic of his
speech and what happens Congressman Joe
Wilson yells out you lie and I had so
many people say to me how come he didn't
stop and give Joe Wilson a piece of his
mind you know what because if that would
have been the story he had to keep
focusing on what he was there for and
that was the people's work and so that
training that I started out with early
in my career and had through all the
years I was in local government service
I think came in handy
an armed
to be able to you put yourself in the
arena you're gonna take heat and some of
it's fair and some of it's not fair and
your job is to listen to the fair and
learn to absorb the pain from the unfair
well plus plus I got to drive through
the gates of the White House every day
for eight years I can take some heat for
having at that privilege that's true
that's wonderful and you've supported so
many people especially your daughter and
major leaders what's next for you what's
in your what's on your heart well no
more ten-year plans because that didn't
work right so so I will say this and
don't get mad at me but I do wake up
every single day and I do exactly what I
want to do to do that and and I and
having had the privilege of working
really on every issue that came across
President Obama's desk both foreign and
domestic that after we finished I
thought well let me take a step back and
say to myself listening to the quiet
voice what are you really passionate
about what are the issues that you had a
chance to dig deep and get involved in
did you want to continue to work on and
it was very simple for me I care about
gender equity so I started an
organization called the United State of
women focusing on closing that gender
gap I care about criminal justice reform
and so I work with a whole range of
organizations on criminal justice reform
I care about reducing gun violence and
so I land my I lend my voice to that
issue and I care just desperately about
civic engagement and so between when we
all vote and President Obama's
Foundation which is really designed to
create a platform to teach civic
engagement to the next generation that's
what I want to do a hog serving on a few
boards and right now I'm really focused
on on learning how to be the best
grandmother in the world I think that's
fabulous that's fabulous
the organization that's focused on women
and gender income inequalities I think
it's fabulous it speaks to me I'm a
single mom yes
and there's a stat that I just learned
about a month ago what would you guess
that african-american net worth would be
oh my gosh whatever number now but it's
what a few hundred dollars so they have
in savings right that was well net worth
is our home and we got a lot of debt
right what is it it's some $100 so
hundred hundred that's what we've got a
median net worth for african-american
women and with all of the burdens that
we have is just unbelievable so people
focus on that 79 cent differential yes
between income but the wealth for latina
and black people in general but women in
particular is in this in the sense
versus the dollar and it begins very
young I mean we wouldn't I was in the
white house one of my responsibilities
was sharing the White House Council on
women and girls and we gave the new
administration a couple of months to see
if they were going to continue the
council and they didn't and so Tina
tchen who was the executive director of
it and I cheered at all eight years
decided let's create a new organization
a grassroots organization based outside
of government and galvanized fix all
around the country on all the issues
facing women and it's everything from
our education to our financial literacy
to our health care to reducing teenage
pregnancy to ensuring that we have the
ability to work above the minimum wage
which is far too low in my opinion that
we're getting equal pay for equal work
then we have paid leave paid sick days
affordable childcare affordable college
education so there at the end we can
retire in dignity and lead a life where
we can compete on an even playing field
and I think maybe because I have a
daughter and I just want the world to be
easier for her not not easy but easier
than certainly is in this environment
and that basket of issues we call
working family issues were important to
me and I still and I bet you too as a
single mom with everything going for me
I had health insurance you know I always
made reasonable salary I always had paid
leave paid sick days all that stuff and
I'm still held in I'm on my fingertips
and some of it is because I thought I
was superhuman
and I could do everything myself yeah be
the perfect lawyer the perfect mother
the perfect spouse all of that and doing
everything that a traditional wife did
Plus go to work every day I mean I was
gonna do it all don't do that I was
making baby food from scratch in the
middle of the night what was I doing
that I don't know I don't know what I
was thinking about but some of it there
are these structural mechanisms that
hold us back and and the good news is
this is that employers are increasingly
appreciating that as they try to compete
for talent not just to attract it but to
keep it that they're going to have to
start investing and what I call this
basket of working family issues and
those are the ones that will close that
gap and give us the ability to generate
some net worth so that we aren't so
fragile and going into retirement that
is so true one data point when we were
trying to get the affordable no I know
we were trying to work on college
affordability and so many young people
make decisions on their career many of
you in this room may have done the same
based on how do I pay back my college
loans so rather than going into public
service we're losing that treasure trove
of people because they have to go out
and earn enough money to pay it back so
I called the person Barry Brown who was
a had remember Barry so he was head of
AARP which is a senior citizen
organization and I said I know Barry
this isn't your issue but would you lend
your support to making college more
affordable he goes oh no it is my issue
you would be appalled to know the number
of people who retire and become members
of the AARP and they still haven't paid
back their student loans imagine you are
retired and you we're still paying your
college debt wow that's something about
to do something about that we really do
and it's easy for us to talk about women
I'm also very concerned about our young
black boys and and now that I have a
little brown grandson I will tell you I
would look I was looking at him the way
he was born and probably and I can't
even tell you because as I said every
day it's something I was something was
going on in the headlines and I thought
my goodness what kind of a world is he
coming into what kind of a country
forget the world what kind of a country
if he coming into and I know that his
parents my daughter and her husband are
gonna have to give him that talk that my
cousin worser had from his mother when
he was growing up and so many of my male
friends all my black male friends you
don't know a black male in this country
whose parents have not given them that
talk and when are we gonna get to the
point where the relationship between
police and communities of color are
strong when the relationship between
people are stronger I mean the police
are simply a reflection of our community
and I I worry that with the toxicity
that we're seeing right now obviously
it's starting at the top but permeating
that the only way that we combat that is
with our voices and lift them up not in
sound but in power