Challenge Authority (with Donna Brazile)

This week on Professional Troublemaker, I’m talking to veteran political strategist Donna Brazile.

Donna is the former interim chair of the Democratic National Committee and became the first African American woman to serve as the manager of a major party presidential campaign when she ran the campaign of former vice president Al Gore. She is a best-selling author and speaks at colleges and universities across the country. She’s been an adjunct professor at Georgetown and the Harvard Kennedy School and is currently the Gwendolyn S. and Colbert I. King Endowed Chair in Public Policy at Howard University.

We talk about Donna’s early ambitions of being a priest and later, a doctor, and how she found her calling for public service very early in her life. We also touched on the beauty of cherishing your inner child and challenging authority, as all great Professional Troublemakers do so well.

As the former interim Chair of the Democratic National Committee and the first African American woman to serve as the manager of a major party presidential campaign, Donna tells about the adversity that came with being so young at the time navigating those spaces– in addition to being a black woman.

We also discuss the importance of sisterhood–in and out of the professional space, and self-care.

We cover the importance of always asking why, how critical it is to lift others as we climb, and the cultures that shape us. I have been super geeked to share this conversation since she and I talked a couple of weeks ago. Get ready to challenge authority with the latest episode of Professional Troublemaker.