KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND/RAISE YOUR VOICE
The above tweet by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat from New York, is in character with the senator's entire twitter feed, which is filled with uplifting quotes about equality and women's rights.
Ms. Gillibrand, who began her Senate career by filling Hillary Clinton's vacated seat, credits a speech in China by Mrs. Clinton when she was the first lady for inspiring her to get involved with public service.
"I'm sitting in New York City, at a big law firm, pushing papers and I noticed that Hillary Clinton goes to China." Ms. Gillibrand said on stage, at the National Constitution Center in 2014. "The fact that she was giving this speech as our first lady, saying human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights really blew me away because I knew what that meant to give that message, at that time, in that place. And I was kicking myself because I wasn't involved in politics."
Shortly after that, Ms. Gillibrand attended a fundraiser where Mrs. Clinton, who was the speaker, inspired her to take her ambitions further. She said that she felt like Mrs. Clinton was talking directly to her. That if she wanted to change things in politics, she had to get involved.
And she is very involved.
Since becoming Senator, she has sponsored 40 bills and co-sponsored 457 bills. In fact, Ms. Gillibrand is ranked 2nd in co-sponsership, which shows a willingness to work with her peers to advance her policy goals.
Ms. Gillibrand recently published a guide on Medium, on how to get more involved and make a difference. One of her advices were to run for office -- she even listed organizations that can help individuals, who are interested in running, get started.
"We are just small pieces of something much larger than ourselves. Let’s do all that we can to own this democracy, own our ambitions, and fight for what’s right — because when we do, we will change everything."
