“I stuck with what I care about,” Rebecca Sive is proud to say after working as a political activist and strategist for more than five decades. And she is still pushing for what she believes in with relentless persistence. Her interest in politics started young. She joined her father at the age of 8 as he campaigned for Congress. Her activism grew in college as she witnessed inequality within her campus and throughout the area, leading her to become a community organizer and later, when she moved to Chicago, an advisor to celebrities, business leaders, public officials, political candidates, philanthropists, and organizational leaders. She shares with Jeanne the meaning of sisterhood, the importance of being a present member in your community, why several heads are better than one, how to dissect a failure to learn from your mistakes, and some special insights into working with Chicago’s first Black mayor Harold Washington.

About Rebecca:

Rebecca Sive is the author of three books on American women’s politics and power; a women’s leadership strategist, motivational speaker, experienced media analyst, and a past faculty member of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and statewide governmental official. She co-produced and co-hosted the podcast, #VoteHerIn, with Two Broads Talking Politics, a “best political podcast,” according to Parade magazine. Sive’s articles and op-eds have appeared in The Huffington Post, Crain’s Chicago Business, The Hill, at MSNBC, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Chicago Sun-Times, and elsewhere. Rebecca is the founding director of one of the nation’s first women’s centers, founding commissioner of the Illinois Human Rights Commission, a leader and advisor of the campaign to elect Chicago’s first African American mayor (Harold Washington), and appointee of his as a Commissioner, Chicago Park District. Sive was among the national decision makers who developed women’s issues agendas for US presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. She holds an M.A. in American History and is the recipient of many awards for her public leadership, including from the United Negro College Fund, the YWCA, the Jaycees, and her alma maters, the University of Illinois, and Carleton College. She is listed in Feminists Who Changed America, University of Illinois Press (2006).