MY STORY

FIRST TO GRADUATE COLLEGE

The first in my family to get a degree, I received a BA in Art from Whitman College. I then attended Boston University for its unique MBA program that includes a certificate in Public and Nonprofit Management. While there, I lived with Julia Child in Cambridge. But that’s another story.

A PIONEER IN ONLINE COMMERCE

With my MBA in hand, I was lured by the creativity of the early days of online commerce. Following a stint at Microsoft, I helped launch multiple startups, led one to become the 10th most trafficked commerce site on the Internet and a public company, and spoke at and chaired Internet Marketing conferences across the United States.

I learned to do a lot with very little and obsess over every dollar. I also became a highly successful negotiator in the famously rough-and-tumble online startup world. It was an extraordinary education that will serve me well in Congress.

When 9/11 helped force the closing of a startup I’d co-founded, I was ready to get back to my original vision of public service.

15-YEARS OF SERVICE IN NONPROFITS

At World Vision, one of the world’s largest nonprofits, I took over their Gift Catalog business which was earning about $2 million per year and, along with a small team, led that business to over $35 million a year and eventually became Senior Director of Innovation.

I specialized in social media innovation and set records for World Vision with millions of video views and hundreds of millions of dollars raised to help people living in poverty around the world.

A key part of that success was focusing on gender equity. Research led me to the conclusion that the most important thing we can do to improve our world is empower women. The work my team and I did in that area ended up generating well over $1 billion for such programs.

During this period, I was interviewed by over 100 media outlets, including Good Morning America, Time, and ABC News.

It was also during this period that Mom died of a heart attack, sending me into a serious depression. I recovered, but the experience, and how World Vision management handled it, inspired me to talk about it publicly when I can. We have so much work to do in the area of mental health.

I went on to create record-breaking campaigns for other outstanding nonprofits through my agency, MOYO Media Lab.

ACTIVISM AND HEARTBREAK

In the past few years, I’ve focused on activism, filmmaking, and fighting right-wing disinformation through a nonprofit I founded, TrueUSA.

Gender equity has continued to be a passion. I’ve led discussions on the topic for Lean-In, Microsoft, and other groups. When Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing occurred, I decided to go to DC and tell the stories of the women protesting through short films.

The trip went well, but as a result, I lost my father.

A FOX NEWS ORPHAN

My birth father (not Jerry Hermanson, my adopted father) is a faithful Fox News watcher. When he saw I’d participated in the Kavanaugh protest, he was enraged. When he found out I was celebrating the wave of women and POC elected to Congress during the midterms, he was done with me.

It still shocks me to this day. I saw my father’s lips moving, but it was Tucker Carlson’s voice I heard talking about white people being replaced in America.

He disowned me and forbade me to even write him.

It was one of the most painful days of my life. But I know I’m far from alone. Still, I think most people don’t fully understand just how toxic Fox News and its alliance with Trump’s GOP is for America. I hope my story helps bring some awareness.

WE CAN AND WE WILL

My entire life, I’ve been told that the things I want to do are impossible—and then I do them anyway.

Once again, I’m being told that I can’t. I’m told it’s impossible to win a race against a 22-year incumbent who has major corporate funding. And I’m facing major skepticism that our country will come together to save our democracy and accomplish great things.

It’s a fact that we can do this. All that’s left to discover is if we’re willing to do the work.