Tell us a little bit about yourself. How long have you lived in Pennsylvania? What are some of the most important things people should know about you?

I have lived in Pennsylvania for eight and a half years. One of the most important things to know about me is that I’m a mom. I always think that is the most important thing about me. My son Wyatt is in ninth grade at NAI, and my daughter Austen is a senior at NASH. That is a 24/7, 365 deal and a lifetime deal. That’s probably the biggest responsibility you have since you did bring those people into the world. They are all on you. Also, as someone who is a mom, I have found that my kids make me a better person and becoming a mom forced me to be the best version of myself because one of my strongest issues is with hypocrisy. I have no patience for it. I think people should be straight up about what they’re going to do. I believe they should walk the walk, not talk the talk. You have kids, you have to face every single day and be their role model. You really have to live the values that you impart to them. So, because of that, I don’t have a chance to sugarcoat or hide anything. My kids are very shrewd and call me out on things. So, that’s critical.

My background is that I worked in Los Angeles for a number of years. I’m from New York originally, until I went to UCLA for grad school. I went to Columbia University for undergrad. I went to UCLA for film making, where I got my MFA. I was lucky to get work at a very early age there, since so many people struggle for so long. I did encounter some struggles, and it really taught me to appreciate every meal I had, since I was in a job where I had to constantly figure out how to pay rent. I was then able to write for several movies and even produce and direct an independent film. My husband Todd, from New Jersey, didn’t want to raise our children in Los Angeles, even though it was near the beach. We decided to move closer to the East Coast, where our families were, and also where the values we care about were being embodied. We looked for a place with good public schools, but also access to a city with great culture, innovation in terms of technology, and environmentally conscious. So, we picked Pittsburgh, which had everything we wanted to raise our children. We ended up in the North Hills, when he took a job with a company based in Warrendale.

I have three dogs and two cats, and I’m a huge animal rights person. I think how you treat those who are most vulnerable says a lot about you as a human being and gives a really strong indicator of somebody’s character.

Why are you running for state representative? Was there any particular event that sparked this idea?

Obviously, I get asked this question all the time. There isn’t really a succinct answer, except I know that we deserve better than what we have. People in this district deserve better than what they have, people in the state of Pennsylvania deserve better than what they’re getting from a lot of representatives. As an American citizen and a parent raising two kids, I do not want my kids to think that this is what Democracy looks like because, frankly, it’s appalling. It’s disgraceful, it’s shameful, it’s undignified, and so far beneath the values or the noble ideals that the country was founded upon. There was no one event, it was a series of watching the 2016 election cycle. And, it wasn’t even about the outcome. It was on all sides watching the public conversation on politics deteriorate into a shouting match and people hurling insults and being petty and juvenile. People don’t have to agree, I get that, people do not have to agree, so it’s not even the president’s policies. I cannot believe that this is how we as adults, who are supposed to be in charge of one of the most advanced countries in the world,  are behaving on a large, public scale. It’s not acceptable and I don’t feel any young person can feel secure growing up in this country.Especially those who did not feel secure, like those who had financial insecurities. Minorities who are disenfranchised, anybody. Now, I think it’s widespread, how can you feel secure if the people who are supposed to be in charge have lost in all sense of reason and lost compassion that nobody is working for the betterment of the people. And those who want to are having a hard time doing that, since all the other stuff is getting in the way.

And, my opponent, in particular, represents a dire threat to democracy. That sounds dramatic, but I believe he is an obstructionist who is the Speaker of the House, and doesn’t allow legislation to be voted on. Voting is what makes things fair, it allows discourse to happen in order to pass the laws that reflect the will of the people. If you don’t even allow bipartisan conversation, I don’t think you’re allowed to hold office in a democracy. I think we need a return to representatives who know how to work with other another and work with the people.

What do you think sets you apart from Representative Turzai, apart from the political difference?

Well, as someone who runs a nonprofit, I actually help people. There’s that, I actually help people every single day. I do it quickly, I do it cost-effectively, I am able to work with people of all parties everyday to make it happen. I know that it’s possible, but I know it’s a choice. If you and your coworkers want to solve people’s problems and want to work together to do, it will get done, which tells me that there are too many people in office who want to solve problems, but don’t want to work with others to make that happen. And, you have to take into account the opinions or notions that are different from your own, but still help solve the problem. That’s why its called compromise. that is a skillset that I have, I’ve been able to work with people of wildly different opinions through the nonprofit world and the film world. I’ve been able to work with people and bring a consensus that actually helps people. If [Representative Turzai] actually cares about people, it’s not really evident in his policies or the way he behaves. That’s what I have to go on. I’m not in his heart or in his mind, but, from what I see, he is devoid of compassion and real concern for people. It’s an agenda that not only serves himself, but those who financially commit to his campaign.

You said you run a non-profit. Would you like to discuss that?

Sure. It’s called No Crayon Left Behind. We started out by getting crayons from restaurants that give them to children to color on their menus. I found out that they were throwing out the crayons. It didn’t matter if they were brand new or in the package, almost every single restaurant in the United States that gives out crayons will throw them out the minute that the people leave, if they leave the crayons behind. I come from a long line of public school teachers, I’ve lived near impoverished areas, so I know that basic school supplies and basic art supplies are incredibly hard to come by. These are non-biodegradable items, so you’re taking something that’s essentially brand new and in perfectly usable condition, throwing it in a landfill where it’s not even going to bio degrade. So it’s a lose-lose on all fronts. And, it is one of the top three most needed school supplies in the k through eighth grade in the country, which most people don’t know. If you think about it, how many crayons do kids get at the beginning of the school year? They get lost, they get stepped on. Some kids can’t afford to replace them, or even afford a brand new set of crayons at the beginning of the year. In large swaths of the country and in places across the globe, tons of school districts in the Pittsburgh region, there are kids who can’t afford the most basic school supplies, so I just started collecting these crayons and getting them out to schools and impoverished areas, homeless shelters that have nothing, shelters for abused women and children. A simple crayon is incredibly useful because for any kid that has nothing to do, it’s the easiest way to occupy a child. But, it’s not just a time killer. It actually allows the kid to do art and be create, as well as encourages them to thin for themselves and draw that picture. Every child learns to hand write with a crayon first. No kid writes their name the first time with a pencil or a pen. It’s a crayon! If a kid doesn’t have that, you’re delaying basic motor skill development until they have a pencil when they’re older and can hold one. They’re already far behind

I just started doing that, and before I knew it, we are worldwide. we get crayons and other education supplies from all over the world. WE do art and education programming, we got a grant to do a coloring book of original artwork by veterans for veterans. They use it for relaxation and stress relief, when they’re struggling with PTSD. It empowers them to see that other vets are making artwork, making peer to peer relationships. We have done a lot more with crayons that I ever could have imagined, but we have women in third world countries in villages without roofs or running water, learning to write for the first time because we send them crayons. We have middle eastern men, who are 70 years old, and haven’t drawn a picture in their entire lives. Now, they have an Eat’n’Park crayon or a TGIFriday’s crayon, and, suddenly, they can be creative for the first time in their life. It’s really changed a lot of lives in a far more profound way than I could have imagined.

What are the biggest concerns facing Pennsylvania today?

The biggest concerns? Public education, which is harder for people in this area to understand because we have great schools in North Allegheny and Pine Richland, but not real far away from us, we have a ton of schools who are underfunded and simply don’t have the materials to do what they need to do. Frankly, they’re inadequate. Of the country, Pennsylvania has the widest gap between wealthy and poor school districts. That’s incredibly shameful, of all the things to be ashamed of, the fact that we’re failing in educating our kids is a scandal, but it’s disgraceful and it has to be fixed. Whether or not your child is in a good school district and you’re fortunate to have that, all these children in these other districts who are not doing well, if they do not get adequate educations, they turn into adults who cannot thrive, they turn into adults who cannot support themselves, they turn into adults who turn to drugs and crime who become a drain on social services. Even from a financial and economic standpoint, we’re failing Pennsylvania’s future by not educating children today. So, the single best investment you can make, anywhere, is in education and in making sure that all children have excellent access to education that is affordable. They, then, become far more productive members of society, which improves every aspect of our lives as Pennsylvanians.

What would you do to ameliorate this issue?

I think, first of all, we’re implementing a new funding formula. There’s a fair funding formula. I don’t know that it’s going to do quite enough. I think we have to find new sources of revenue. I do not think we can jut put it all on the backs of the taxpayers. Asking taxpayers to make up for what previous leadership has done by frankly screwing over a huge amount of the population of pa is not fair. The way they have solved financial crises in the past has been so poor that our credit rating as a state is terrible. We are considered a bad investment. We need to bring in new sources of revenue that can be dedicated to education. I think we also have to change the culture around education and make sure that we can create a culture where teaching is considered a noble profession. WE have to make sure that kids want to go into the field of education, that people want to be teachers and see it as a positive, not a negative, so that it doesn’t seem like a grueling, thankless job. There needs to be a respect for what teachers do. All these issue around education are hugely problematic, but the funding, I think, we have to look at not just relying on property tax. We need to bring in new sources of revenue that can be distributed to help mitigate where we are in terms of how we fund our education. I think eventually we can do things like work-study programs, where people who want to go into teaching might have loan forgiveness or a lower loan rate or being able to work in schools. I think there’s a whole host of ways that we could make being a teacher affordable and appealing and make it so that it’ snot incredibly expensive for the taxpayers.

Who are some politicians (both local and national) that you believe are doing good things for our country?

My friends will laugh, but I love Joe Biden. I know he’s not in office right now. I did really like Senator McCain. I realize these are two older, white men, but I thought they spoke the truth. And, in the world we are living in, just finding people willing to stand up for what they believe in is hard to find. Locally, I think Mike Doyle is a great congressman because he speaks up, he’s impassioned, he fights incredibly hard. I think Senator Casey is great. I think Leanne Kruger-Braneky, who is a state representative in the Eastern part of the state is amazing. I share her values and I share her anger and I share her frustration at the failings that PA has. You know, Kamala Harris, Corey Booker, I like them a lot. Again most of these people are people who speak truth to power and show compassion and decency. I think Senator Casey is an incredibly decent man in what is often an indecent profession. I think Governor Wolf, having met him as a person and not a politician, he’s a very compassionate person who wants to do right, whether people believe or side with his policies, but I know having spoken to him a number of times, he rally cares about doing the best he can by the most people he can. I think his business background should be able to inform many of his policies and he believes very strongly in public education.

As a new campaign, how have you been spreading the word?

Volunteers. Volunteers, grassroots, very basic grassroots. It is not rocket science, I just started very, very early. I was the first 2018 candidate that I knew of, aside from incumbents seeking re-election. When I decided to run, it was the end of November 2016. I was not aware of anybody else who decided to run for office who was a newcomer. So, I think that was part of it. Just getting a jump on it, just getting out there and not knowing any better and being willing to get out there and just say “hi, I’m running.” And, just show up anywhere I could and just introduced myself to people, even if they found it laughable that I was new and it was so early and nobody was ready to talk about it. I think that was very helpful. Then, it was just volunteers, getting people who believed in my message, people who believed I had their best interest in my heart. I kept getting volunteer after volunteer, spreading my message to other people through community events through churches, synagogues, and mosques. They’re sharing that there’s a candidate out there. We did t-shirts very early, that helped. I went door to door very early. In fact, I started knocking doors last year. Early, early, early. As I was canvassing for other candidates. Now, we use the yard signs. there’s nothing complicated. We have done nothing to reinvent the wheel, let’s put it that way. It’s been very basic, but it’s because we’ve done so much of the basic stuff. When you have conversations with people that are sincere, they spread the word.

I know you listed issues on your website, but I really wanted to get your personal take on many of them. What do they mean to you? How would you attempt to solve these issues?

• Jobs and the Economy:

What I have found is that people seem to think that oh, if we bring business into the state, everything gets better. But, that’s not true. You know, my opponent, just wants to bring in business and makes it a good climate for business, then everything’s better. Well, it’s not. Not if they don’t pay their taxes, not if they don’t use local workforce, if we don’t hire locally, then the money doesn’t go back into our economy. If they’re not paying taxes here, it doesn’t go back here. If they’re not treating workers fairly, it doesn’t benefit us. So, really, it doesn’t. We’re also ignoring the small business owners that have benefited the economy by producing tremendous growth. So, how do we make things better for small businesses? There are lots of policies now that help with small businesses, with deferred payments on loans, changing the regulations to make it easier for entrepreneurs, making the funding available. Entrepreneurs are the future of where we’re going. Again, we need to close the tax loopholes, and I don’t think we should have small businesses adhering to regulations that big businesses are largely ignoring. We should be making that everybody pays their fair share, but we have to pay attention to having a local workforce that is well trained for these jobs. We should make it easier to hire local. if you don’t have the workforce you need for that, let’s integrate job training and paid apprenticeships. Let’s make sure that people can earn while they learn. That’s a critical business model. Let people know what’s available. There are certain businesses that refuse to come here because of policies Pennsylvania does and doesn’t have. For example, there is fairness legislation. We do not have a statewide anti-discrimination ban right now. So, for example, you can still be discriminated against for sexual orientation, gender, sexual identification, things like that. there are other states that have that, but we do not. The legislation has been written, but my opponent and people like him have buried in in committees where nobody will bring it up for a vote. Is it because they’re bigots? I don’t know. All I know, is they’re not letting it come to a vote and there are other organizations and businesses that are very forward thinking that also believe they will only set up businesses in places that are fair and equal in every single way that provides opportunities to every single citizen. they don’t want to associate themselves into places that have backwards, regressive values. We’re going to lose out on tech, on a lot of futuristic companies coming here if we do not show that we also have a sense of social justice component to us. I’d love to see us move in that direction.

• Healthcare:

Healthcare’s a disaster. Much like education, I think what makes a country superior is education and healthcare. So, I believe that expanding medicaid is critical. everybody should have access to affordable, quality healthcare, period. There should never be a choice between food and healthcare. It’s uncivilized in a country that’s as wealthy as we are. Also, we need to focus more on prevention by making being healthy a more cultural part of living in America, through nutrition and being healthy. It’s a holistic thing that we have to focus on. Let’s make sure that healthcare is affordable and available. The shortsightedness of people missing that is astounding. if you have more and more people who are healthy to start with, when people get older and sicker and you have to care for them, that is far more expensive in every single way, shape or form. People who can’t work or take care of their loved ones. Moving to a single pair model or universal healthcare is likely the way of the future. I do not have all the information on that as far as how exactly we can pay for that, but I do think it is a very serious option that is worth very very serious exploration. Looking at other countries and other places for practices on how to do it. I’m not saying it will be easy or occur overnight, but it seems to me like the success other people have with it, it’s something we have to give very very serious attention to because what we’re doing is clearly not working. We have to start doing something radically different, but I don’t think we can do it in a radical time frame. We have to get there carefully, methodically and slowly. But, I think that’s the direction we must head.

• The Environment:

Also very scary. I will just state for the record, I believe in climate change, I believe it’s real. i’m not going to be a denier, anybody who’s living through these 95 degree days in October is insanity, weather-wise. I think that bringing in more green business is a win-win. I believe in a severance tax. I know that the oil companies and the gas companies have fully expected it to happen any day. They would like to have something predictable in their business model. They don’t like all the up and downs, so they know what they’re doing with. i do not see it as double taxation. We are not going to lose business because we institute a severance tax. Because nobody else has lost business. This is where the gas is and the resource is, they have to be here. Let’s have it benefit the people who live here. Let’s use that money to start building a future that is more sustainable. We need to transition from fossil fuels at some point. it’s not going to be overnight. Let’s make what we can out of it. The fossil fuel industry has contributed a lot to the economy here, to our infrastructure, we cannot forget that, but we also have to say that there is plenty of room to start bringing in green business and renewable and alternative energy sources. We are not letting solar energy companies as traditional electric companies. And then why would they want to come here then? We should be putting a lot of money into renewable. Also, it’s great of the economy. It’s a source of jobs and they’re good for environment. Do we want to have people leave Pennsylvania who are now skilled at those kids of jobs. We need to start training people for 21st century jobs, so we’re not losing a workforce. More and more young people like yourself are looking towards the future, they don’t want to look backwards. We need to acknowledge that the future is coming, so we might as well be good at what that is.

How would you foster transparency?

For myself, I think people should know who I’m meeting with. I know that there are people who make their calendars available. I want to look at the other representatives to do that. Let people know how I’m meeting with. Let them know where I’m getting my money at all times. It’s very hard to navigate looking through things like that, and I think it’s intentional. people don’t want to be able. You work for the public, the public is your boss, they have the right to know what you’re doing with the money and who you’re meeting with to discuss that money. having an agenda that is available for people to see. I think it’s going to change the way we interact with technology. Certain meetings should be open, whether available online or on cable. It may be unpopular, but it’s necessary. WE have to have more town halls in order to be more transparent and accessible in letting people as you question and making sure that you respond to them and their concerns. Your expense reports and things lie that should not be hidden. This is what people should know, since you’re spending the people’s money. It’s not your money or my money, it’s the people’s money. They have the right to know what it’s being spent on. I’ve signed on almost pledge that promises transparency and good government practice. I am endorsed by many of them. We have to make sure that our technology is being used in service to being accountable.

To many of our 18-year-old, voting age readers, politics can be a complex and often forgettable part of their lives. What are you doing or what will you do to engage a younger audience?

I do bug my daughter’s friends every time they’re in the house! You know, what of the first things I did was tell teenagers that I would love to have you involved. I was very very happy that many of them took me seriously and showed up at meetings. I wanted to give them some autonomy. I called it 18 for 2018 to get teens involved.

To anybody that knows me, I don’t seem like your standard politician, sound like your standard politicians, I don’t look like your standard politician. That already tells people, “oh”, maybe politics aren’t what I thought and politicians aren’t what I thought. We have recruited a lot of teen volunteers and said please come out and bring your friends. We serve pizza time to time, so it helps people get interested. But, I will always, always have teen interns, as many as they want. We include them at meetings, we include them at every aspect of what we do, if they’re interested. I would love to have a teen committee, if I win, it would be important to maintain that in my home district, so that, within my district, there is a group of teenagers who are my board, my interns who can be the voice in the community. i think its critical that any teen who has a question or doesn’t understand anything

I don’t believe in talking down to people, but politics can be hard for everyone. There’s a reason teens are so turned off by politics. It’s simply because it’s gross. It’s a bunch of adults who are behaving worse than we allow kids to talk in school. Yelling and screaming at each other and being petty, throwing tantrums, losing their patience and tolerance. We, I think, have to start behaving better. Anybody in the public service must behave better and take the high road. Have some dignity. And, invite teens. Start small. Politics is not some theoretical, abstract thing. Politics are the laws that guide how your life gets led. It will determine what you are and are not allowed to do going forward. it determines where the money comes from, and what opportunities you have as a young person. it’s not that removed, it’s not national or government law, often it’s the local, state government that determines the quality of your local life. It’s a slow process. i can’t undo years of teenagers being disgusted and bored with politics. I was when I was a teenager, so I get it. It’s how to make it to clear to kids that this stuff really matters to them. Not tomorrow, but today, but also find ways to make it more user friendly because right now, nobody understands anything. The rules and the websites of many of these local politicians are incredibly confused. They need to be redone, probably by a teenager, as they would probably be better. The design is impossible and not user-friendly at all. It should be a lot easier to know what’s going on. Hopefully, people like you and people who read the paper can change it. Don’t let it overwhelm you. Find one cause you care about and ask about that cause and focus on that. That’s the best you can do. The best and easiest thing to do is vote. Just ask somebody or come into the office, where we will be able to offer up some advice.