Chances are you've heard of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by now.
The Bronx native made headlines as the youngest person ever elected to Congress in 2018.
She also went viral for some sweet dance moves, but there's much more to discover than that.
Here's the untold truth of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
From nothing to something
Ocasio-Cortez's life hasn't been all smooth sailing.
She was born in the Bronx, and, as she put it in a campaign video:
"I was born in a place where your zip code determines your destiny."
Her father ran a small, struggling business while her mother cleaned houses.
To give her access to better opportunities, the family bought a house 40 minutes north
of the Bronx, in Yorktown in Westchester County, when she was two years old.
A few years later her family was able to move there, and she attended and graduated from
the Yorktown school system.
But after her father died in 2008, while she was attending Boston University, times got
tough again.
To help her family stay afloat, Ocasio-Cortez picked up gigs in restaurants and bars.
In fact, she was waiting tables and bartending just a year before winning her congressional
bid, and her financial struggles continued even after winning.
In a 2018 interview with The New York Times, she revealed that she couldn't afford rent
in Washington D.C. until her congressional salary kicked in.
A work in progress
Some people might see Ocasio-Cortez as a newly minted politician, but the truth is that she's
been molding her political career for years.
She attended Boston University, where she majored in economics and international relations.
She got her first political break there, working under the late Senator Ted Kennedy on immigration
casework and foreign affairs.
After she graduated, she moved back to the Bronx and got a job as an educational director
in her community.
In 2016, she worked on Senator Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign as an organizer.
Sanders is clearly proud of how far she's come.
After her upset victory in the New York primary, he tweeted,
"She took on the entire local Democratic establishment in her district and won a very strong victory."
Clapback queen
Every politician has their haters, and Ocasio-Cortez is no exception.
But she isn't afraid to hit back when she needs to.
In December 2018, Donald Trump Jr. suggested that her democratic socialist views would
lead to Americans eating dogs.
She responded by calling him a "troll" and issuing an indirect threat to use her subpoena
power as a member of the House of Representatives against him.
"Frankly, it's legal advice that any person would give him."
There was also the time in July 2018 when conservative news host John Cardillo claimed
Ocasio-Cortez lied about her "Bronx hood upbringing."
In an attempt to prove his point, he tweeted a photo of her childhood home in Yorktown.
So she schooled him hard, responding,
"Growing up, it was a good town for working people.
My mom scrubbed toilets so I could live here & I grew up seeing how the zip code one is
born in determines much of their opportunity."
Making history
On October 13, 2018, Ocasio-Cortez turned 29.
Just a few weeks later, on November 6, she became the youngest woman ever elected to
Congress.
That record was previously held by New York's Elise Stefanik, who was elected to the House
in 2014 at 30 years old.
Ocasio-Cortez received more than 78 percent of votes, while her Republican opponent Anthony
Pappas earned only 13 percent.
In her victory speech, she reflected upon the power of getting to the polls to effect
change.
"And that's exactly what this is: not a campaign, or an election day, but a movement, a larger
movement."
Dancing machine
This Bronx girl knows how to boogie.
That fact came to light in January 2019, when a video of Ocasio-Cortez dancing back in her
Boston University days circulated online.
The footage, which was spread online in an attempt to damage her reputation as a serious
legislator, shows her and her classmates grooving to Phoenix's 2009 rock hit "Lisztomania" with
some legendary moves from the classic '80s teen flick The Breakfast Club.
Of course, it didn't work, and the video took the internet by storm.
It was so good that even some of the actors from that film extended to her personal invites
into the gang.
Ocasio-Cortez followed that up with a video of herself busting some moves to Edwin Starr's
"War" outside her office, captioning the post:
"Wait till they find out Congresswomen dance too!"
Big on self-care
Ever wonder what Ocasio-Cortez's secret is to staying so focused and gracious?
It probably has a lot to do with her self-care routine.
In an Instagram Story from December 2018, she opened up about her regimen.
She's practiced yoga, maintained healthy eating habits, and indulged in simple pleasures,
like reading and writing, to help her wind down.
She's fallen off her routine a bit since entering politics, though, as she's revealed that she's
been eating fast food for dinner and falling asleep in her jeans and makeup.
So to ensure that she would be her best self before starting her congressional term, she
described her plans for some quality R&R, tweeting,
"I’m taking a few days to take care of myself before what is sure to be an eventful term.
For working people, immigrants, & the poor, self-care is political, not because we want
it to be, but because of the inevitable shaming of someone doing a face mask while financially
stressed."
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