As I have written before, one of my favorite parts of my job as CEO of Moda Operandi is the opportunity I get to explore international fashion scenes to discover new talent, and then being able to introduce these designers to our community of fashion-savvy customers worldwide.
Raising me as a single parent, my mother held many jobs. Most of them had to do with the betterment and the advancement of our community and society at large. I grew up seeing her active in ministries at our church, with the homeless, as a social worker, with elderly, with youth, as a children's rights organizer with the Urban League of Chicago.
I think the most pressing issue in our community is probably a generational divide.
When Donald Trump comes after any part of our community, he'll find 419,000 Minneapolitans and me standing squarely in his way. That's the kind of wall I can support.
To get the opportunities I've gotten has been insane. But also interesting. With the Starbucks commercial, I found it fascinating that once it was on the Internet, tons of people, especially gay people, were like, 'Why did they choose drag queens to showcase our community?'
Dark skin is considered less than light skin in the in the minds of many in our community and in the media.
In my opinion, serving the common good is the true purpose of politics and is also the perspective through which our community should consider constitutional reform.
We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community... Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.
Rappers have traditionally put products in songs, and it's been products that don't put anything back into our community.
I have been privileged to have the opportunity to work with many of African American fraternal and social organizations that are active in my congressional district. They all do important work that makes a tangible difference to the quality of life in our community.
