Jheanelle Wilkins wanted to run office but, for a time, took her life in another direction. Until she ran for - and won - a seat on the Democratic Central Committee in Montgomery County, Maryland and went on to become a Maryland State Delegate. In Ep. 5, hear how Jheanelle:
Check out Episode 6 and others on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts!
Learn more about Maryland State Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins at:
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Jheanelle Wilkins wanted to run office but, for a time, took her life in another direction. Until she ran for - and won - a seat on the Democratic Central Committee in Montgomery County, Maryland and went on to become a Maryland State Delegate. In Ep. 5, hear how Jheanelle:
Check out Episode 6 and others on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts!
Learn more about Maryland State Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins at:
***
Have guest ideas? Can't wait to hear what leaps will be next?
Subscribe to Life Leaps Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts! Follow, rate and review us - we're *brand new* so, it means a lot - and be the first to know when we launch new episodes each week:
*ACCESSIBILITY: Transcripts are available for each episode here. (Just click your episode of choice, and then click the "transcript" tab! And if you have any issues at all don't hesitate to reach out.)
FINAL AUDIO
Jheanelle Wilkins: [00:00:00] I liked what I did, but something felt like it was missing, and I knew that I wanted to be involved more locally. The value of having a seat at the table around issues cannot be understated.
Life Leaps Podcast: Welcome to Life Leaps Podcast. Hear inspiring stories of ordinary people. Who made extraordinary life changes. What drove them, what almost held them back? Insights for the rest of us considering life leaps big or small, because hearing someone else do it reminds us that we can too.
This week we're with Maryland state delegate, Jenelle Wilkins, who years ago decided she wanted to run for office, but at first took her life in another direction. Until she ran for and won a seat on the democratic central committee in Montgomery county, Maryland, and then became Maryland state delegate.
Today, we'll hear how Janell found the support she needed to put her name on the ballot. Overcame her fear of very public failure. [00:01:00] Navigated the challenges of being and looking different than others who'd been in her position. And advises the rest of us considering life changes big or small
Jheanelle Wilkins: I moved to the US with my mom and my brother when I was five years old, and I grew up in Delaware. I didn't come from a very political background.
My family voted in every election, but outside of that, not a lot of political engagement. But when I went to college and I was a sociology major, I remember learning about breast cancer and the high rate that black women die as a result of breast cancer compared to white women. And I remember having a light bulb moment because we were talking about all these different, different factors from.
Healthcare access to implicit bias, to poverty and all of these things. And I remember this moment where I say, you know what? I want to be at the table. I wanna make the laws. I wanna help change this. I think that was probably my sophomore junior year [00:02:00] when I realized that I wanted to run for office and I wanted to be a senator.
I wanted to be a US senator and go all the way to the top. I was ready. I love
Life Leaps Podcast: it, but like so many of us with big ideas, you didn't do it right away. You ended up doing something.
Jheanelle Wilkins: Yes, I did this internship in fall 2008, just the most amazing time in our country in in DC with President Obama being elected.
And I learned about how you can make change and push for policies from the outside and how organizing works and how advocacy works. And so I was pretty content for a while doing that. So it really started with. This idea of wanting to run for office, then learning about organizing and being fine with that.
After doing an internship with you, at the leadership conference
Life Leaps Podcast: many moons ago, we both sat in our little cramped offices. Typing computers in a very small space. We had no choice but to become friends.
Jheanelle Wilkins: We're in the office slash the [00:03:00] printer room. If you remember , that's what it was. Come a long way.
Life Leaps Podcast: And now you of course work at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the nation's largest and oldest coalition of civil and human rights groups based in Washington DC when you're not busy also being an elected official.
So you had come there for the semester. we both had, and then you went back to University of Delaware with a
Jheanelle Wilkins: new. Yes, so I did the internship and I went back and graduated, came back here for grad school and started working at leadership conference full-time and going to grad school full-time.
So it was definitely a lot going on, but really fulfilling and that was a really awesome time.
Life Leaps Podcast: Okay, so you are doing good work. After grad school, you're working at this nonprofit, which is a great place to be. You're doing field organizing for them, which basically means going all over the country and helping [00:04:00] mobilize and educate people on all kinds of different issues.
At what point do you decide, you know what I'm gonna add another big thing, to my plate. I wanna run for office.
Jheanelle Wilkins: I was traveling to different states, organizing people, training them on how to be advocates on their issues. I was in. Georgia, I was in Colorado, I was in Florida and all of these places. But I realized, hey, where I live in Silver Spring, Maryland, I actually don't know that much about what's going on and my own elected officials and the policies and the issues, and it made me want to get more involved locally where I actually lived.
So when I think back at that time in my life, there was some really good advice that I got from one of my friends because I was enjoying my job. I liked what I did, but. Felt like it was missing and I knew that I wanted to be involved more locally. And he said, whatever you're not being fulfilled by in your full-time job, seek that in your [00:05:00] personal time and seek that in your other activities and extracurriculars to help figure out and be fulfilled in that way.
And that's one of the things that helped me really seeking out. People and organizations and things in my community to really advocate for and work towards that really helped me fulfill my passion. I
Life Leaps Podcast: love it. So you joined the young Democrats of Montgomery County, Maryland, where you lived.
Jheanelle Wilkins: Yeah, so I started advocating with the Young Democrats cause it's a way to help bring in and provide leadership for younger people.
There's different chapters, national, state, local, and I was really involved in our local chapter. We were working on L G B T Q issues $15 minimum wage, we were advocating on that and earned sick leave. Trying to push our county council and state legislative leaders to pass legislation.
Just all of these different issues that I felt so passionate and. So [00:06:00] just excited about being with other young people and trying to make a difference and advocate for it. So we literally would create priorities of what our priority bills were and go up to Annapolis and have lobby nights in Annapolis and talk about those bills with our members was something that really just made my heart just really excited and who knew that being a part of that organization that I just really enjoyed would help lead to me running for two different offices.
You
Life Leaps Podcast: know what I think is also in having a lot of these conversations, what keeps coming up again and again is people either deliberately finding and seeking or stumbling on communities of other people that help. Engage them in what they love, help them feel supported and help them feel like their ideas are possible.
Mm-hmm. and they can do other big things. And like I wasn't specifically looking for that in my conversation with you, but I'm just shocked that it keeps coming up and get it again. I have to flag it. So it sounds like the young [00:07:00] Dems was that for you, like it wasn't like you didn't already care about policy and you didn't maybe think you wanted to be an elected official.
In fact, you'd said, I wanna do that years ago when you were in college. But this particular organization helped you marry what you thought you'd wanna do with, oh, this might be how I can do this. Is that right?
Jheanelle Wilkins: Exactly. It fulfilled passion that I had to be involved in making a difference in my own community.
and I ended up running for the Democratic Central Committee, which you might remember because he actually supported my campaign. We have a really great picture of you helping my campaign. Um,
Life Leaps Podcast: I do remember the big handmade sign. Yes. Yes. So, What was the actual day that you were like, I'm gonna put my name in the hat to actually run for office?
What takes you to that point when you're putting your name
Jheanelle Wilkins: on the dotted line?
Yeah. What's funny is that in both instances that I've run, so first was for the central committee and the second time, which is for the position that [00:08:00] I'm in now, the Maryland House of Delegates as a state delegate, some of it was the right place, right time, and other people.
Encourage me to step up and run, and that's the case for a lot of women who end up running for office. There's a statistic, which I don't know if it's accurate or not, but it's used a lot that women have to be asked over seven to 10 times in order to run, whereas men will just jump up and say, Hey, I'm going to do it.
Usually a woman has to be asked, and in both instances, there was someone who was a young Democrat with me Who said, let's do it.
when I ran for central.the President of the Young Dems at that time. He was running a slate and he said, Hey, you would be really great. And I was like, what's the central committee? Why would I do this? What do they do?
What is this about ? And it definitely took some time and some conversations. But at the [00:09:00] end of the day, I think what drew me in was that the mission of the central committee, which again is our local Montgomery County Democratic Party. Is to help engage Democrats, pull people in, and it was an extension of the, it felt like an extension of the organizing work I was doing in my full-time job where I can go out and talk to my neighbors and people about the Democratic party and get them to vote.
Make sure that voters who maybe hadn't been talked to before heard from the Democratic Party and were brought in.
. Us as young people were all running, and I probably wouldn't have done it if it was just me solo, but the fact that there was this group of people that had already been advocating with, already been working with, and we pretty much stormed that elected body and said, Hey, , it's our time.
We've been talking about all of these issues. It was a much older organization that had done things the same way for a really long time, and we were interested in just let's go do it together. We're [00:10:00] really. Working to change our community, and we decided to do it together and many of us won and I ran for that local Democratic party position on the ballot in I won, and so that was the very first thing that I ran for and won.
Life Leaps Podcast: And how old were you, if you don't mind my asking? At that time,
Jheanelle Wilkins: I was probably around 20. Five ish.
Life Leaps Podcast: Yeah. And I ask, because a lot of times I'm interviewing people and I wanna know how old they are, like as in they're older and I wanna know that because a lot of people are like, I can't make a life change later in life.
It's so hard. So a lot of my guests made the leaps later. But what I think is so cool about your leap is it breaks assumptions in a different way because most people. When it comes to running for office, actually I think the opposite. They think I'm too young, I need to be more seasoned. I need to have things under my belt.
Obviously you were amazing in your own right, [00:11:00] but you were super young and so again, I think your young age cracks the assumptions in the opposite way. So young twenties, Janelle,
Jheanelle Wilkins: Yes. Now I actually wanna know how old I was. Lemme
Let's see, I'm now, and that was what, eight years, years ago? So that means I was 23. Wow. I'm impressed. That was. That was question that really made me think. I didn't realize I didn't, that I was so young when I first were. That's
Life Leaps Podcast: crazy. And you mentioned a lot of the folks who are doing the work there were older and that's fine.
If you're older, you should totally run for office. Do it. I'm not here to discourage anybody, but I think it's so cool that you did that at such a young age. What was your experience? Because at this time the current members of the committee, the 31 members, all of whom you've mentioned are older, are the ones picking you?
because at this point you're filling a [00:12:00] vacancy before the following year when you really, really have
Jheanelle Wilkins: to. There's something about going before a body of people and trying to make your case, especially when you are a young person. That definitely came up. Again. The other people, there are about five other people that were vying for the position.
They were all older than me. and there is something about not even young being a woman, being a black woman, no black woman had had ever represented in my district before. Wow. So this was something that was, yeah. Brand new. And even in my entire county, no black woman had ever been elected in Montgomery County.
Before 2018 at the state legislative level. So this was just doing something that really had not been done in terms of representation, and I definitely felt that my colleagues on the central committee do the appointment that being younger and. It just kind of felt like [00:13:00] even though I'd made so many contributions on the central committee, I had created programs I'd beyond proving myself.
I had the policy chops from my full-time job and also with the engagement that I had done through advocacy with the Young Dems, but there's definitely that era. We don't know if you're the one, what kind of experience do you have? What kind of relationships do you have? And just many more questions that I was getting to prove myself to some of the other people that were running.
I definitely noticed that, and I think it was just a combination of things in terms of who I represent and not having seen someone like me have having done this before. Yeah, it definitely took some convincing to put myself out there before the people who were my colleagues to say, Hey, I wanna do this and make my.
Life Leaps Podcast: what were your biggest fears? When you first were asked if you wanted to run or when you first said yes, and put your name on the slate to be considered for the
Jheanelle Wilkins: position, definitely failure. The thing about public office that is very [00:14:00] public, , let's say you apply for a job and you don't get it, the whole world doesn't know it's not in the newspaper, and when you're running for office, you're really putting yourself out there.
and the Washington Post was running articles about the vacancy and our hyper-local blogs were talking about it, and it felt just out there. You're vulnerable and that's probably the most difficult part, but getting over that because the goal and the impact is so much bigger. Really helped me to overcome that, and we had forums and it was really intense.
We had forums for the vacancy where I had to get up there and answer questions from the audience and from the organizers of the event about policy stances, why I'm most qualified. All of those. Things so it, it's funny how the things that are daunting, it also ended up sharpening my skills because my friends in the audience af, I remember after the first one they were like, let me give you some feedback, , maybe [00:15:00] you should work on this and this.
So although it was a very daunting process, put myself out there for the vacancy. And again, once 31 people who are making this decision, it feels like every single vote, just it feels like life or. and these are the
Life Leaps Podcast: current members of the committee are the 31 people who are picking
Jheanelle Wilkins: you. Exactly. So it was really interesting though, going up against people who just had been alive longer and therefore worked longer and had longer experiences, but I felt like mine were more irrelevant and I had more direct relationships.
But I really had to make the case. Like I remember one colleague I was saying, I do have some relationships in Annapolis with legislators that would help me to hit the ground running. And the person was like, oh, do you have them call me? Pretty much like checking my work. Came to see, and I literally had and asked the members to call him, and I'm a hundred percent sure no other candidates work.
And what they said [00:16:00] were taken was taken at face value. But for me it was like, oh, you say you have relationships. Okay, tell those members, give me a call then. Of course, when you are elected by the people, and I have about 170,000 voters, so you know, I would go to the voters any day, , because hey, if one person says no, you have a bunch more who you can go to try to win their support.
It was an amazing experience going from being appointed because the voters didn't select me, that body selected me to fill out a vacancy. So in 2018, That was election time. Our midterms and I ran on the ballot and there were about four other people. Who were running as well. So I was really running to keep my seat and had to make the case to voters that, Hey, I've been representing you for a year now here's some of what I've done.
Here are my experiences. And it was also funny then as well [00:17:00] in terms of people to open their door and I'm like, hi, I'm your a state delegate. And they're like, you. And again, I think it's just that, and it wasn't necessarily in a bad way. It's just surprising. Especially this was before the wave of women that had run this was right around that time was starting in terms of the wave of women that had run.
So people weren't used to like this young black girl that their door, Hey, I represent you. It was a really cool experience just getting to talk to voters and making the case for being able to keep the
Life Leaps Podcast: seat as well. What were some of the most discouraging things you heard?
Jheanelle Wilkins: Let's see. I had one instance that I will never, ever forget.
This was the weekend of Charlottesville and it was just an emotional weekend, emotional time in our country, and I think for everyone. And I was knocking on doors in my district and I get to this door, I knock. I don't hear anyone come to the door, so I start to walk away and I hear something behind me and I [00:18:00] turn around just in time for you to open her door and let her dog out and then start to close the door.
And the dog is like starting to like to jump on me. And somehow I had the wherewithal because I was so scared because it was just, this dog suddenly comes out, the door jumps on you. Someone unleashed a dog on you. Yes. And I had the wherewithal somehow to say, Hey, I'm here. Stay delegate Janelle Wilkins.
And she just, as she was about to close the door, she opened and said, oh, I was waiting for you to come by. Cause I sent these postcards before I came by so that people wouldn't know I was. and she's, oh, I've been waiting. I wanna talk to you about my road paved, getting paved and my street and this and that.
And she was like, I thought you were a little girl. And it was the weirdest thing, because if I was a little girl, why would you do that to someone? It was. Just very surprising. Shocking. I was so upset cuz it was already a, just a challenging time. I remember it happened that weekend. I just sat in my car and I just cried.
I was, [00:19:00] I was just, I just couldn't believe that this woman would treat someone like that. And especially someone who she thinks is like a little kid when you're an elected official. Sometimes you just have to unfortunately push through it. And so I did get her information about her road paving and followed up with her, but in hindsight, in that moment, I wish I had been a little given her some stern feedback because that really was something that was unacceptable.
And that didn't happen much in my district that that was the only very off wondering if it was a racial situation that happened. Overall, I'm lucky to live in a district that's probably the most progressive, one, most diverse in the entire country. It's a really awesome place to live, but I feel for candidates who are running in places that are hostile to who they are or hostile to their issues and things like, I appreciate your
Life Leaps Podcast: sharing that.
What Janelle kept you moving [00:20:00] forward after a moment like that? What
Jheanelle Wilkins: kept me moving forward is knowing that I had the seat at the table, that I felt and knew that I was doing really important work and I knew that I was qualified in making an. And wanting to continue to do that and working harder, try to convey to the voters the work that I'm doing, how I'm helping to improve our communities.
Because I think the value of having a seat at the table around issues cannot be understated. I talked at the beginning about the breast cancer issue. and because I was in office, I actually got to work on a maternal health issue dealing with women who die as a result of childbirth. And so it came back around full circle in terms of being at a table, having a voice, and that being something that's really important to me.
And the legislature had not done anything [00:21:00] on that issue for about a decade. And with me being in that sea and caring about maternal health issues, I've passed four different bills on that. And so what I think has kept me going in that situation, or even difficult situations is knowing and feeling that I'm making a difference.
That my voice in this body is an important one, that I have real impact, that is tangible. I know that if I wasn't there, these things might not have taken place, or these issues might not have come up, and it's not always easy translating that to the voters. But knowing that I'm making a difference, which is really all that I ever wanted to do, was to change people's lives and advocate for people and make people's lives better, and knowing that I'm doing.
Like taking
Life Leaps Podcast: my own moments of reflection. , selfishly, as you're talking, forget the listeners because I've never sat down and unpacked this with you. Now, our many years of [00:22:00] friendship, I've never really like unpacked.
What was this like for you on a personal level?
What did it look like when you actually were out there running? and it's just you? It's not like you have a full-time staff at this point. I don't know if you ever do. You're just
Jheanelle Wilkins: going out there. Yeah, right at this level in state and local elected office, I'm my own campaign manager, so it felt like I had a third job. I was working my full-time job by legislatures.
Part-time I was working, doing my legislative duties, and then trying to run a whole campaign too. What it would look like was trying to go to as many community events as possible to be visible. Every single weekend knocking as many doors as I could. I'm sending emails myself, getting out the word about what I'm doing via the email list that I was building.
Fundraisers, fundraising is the worst , and so again, that's where the whole, like being younger and also not coming from wealth comes in because when you're fundraising, you're asking your friends at the age of, I'm [00:23:00] probably about. 27 at this point, My friends have been working for a couple of years, but they're not writing like $6,000 checks or $500 checks or anything like that.
So , you start with your network when you're fundraising. My network is younger. My network is not super wealthy, so that also, Was a challenge and just asking people for money in general. It's still the bane of my existence. I've been in the house for six years now, and so I've had fundraisers and things like that every year.
And even now when it's time to play in a fundraiser and have an vet and you have to sit there and literally you're on the phone and you're calling people and you're asking 'em to donate, and it is, to me, it is like soul crushing to do, but. It's something that has to be done to be able to cover the cost of printing your materials and doing mail mailing people, which is as annoying as people probably find it, to get a bunch of mailers from candidates.
It is very effective. It was a lot during campaign time, and [00:24:00] in the back of my head, you're already in the position and so I don't wanna lose. I feel like I'm making an impact. I'm really enjoying it. and I think I'm doing a great job. I have to make sure I translate that to the voters. Cause you can be the best elected official and do all of the things, but if you're not able to translate that to your community, it doesn't end up mattering if the voters don't to have a sense of the good work that you're.
Life Leaps Podcast: you mentioned part-time, so I think a lot of people, myself included before knowing you think if you run for office, it's a full-time deal. You have to leave all your other life behind and on a lot of positions, including the one you occupied.
That's not the case. How does that.
Jheanelle Wilkins: It is part-time in theory, that's for sure. The legislature in Maryland and many legislatures meet just part-time throughout the year, meaning that we only meet January through April,
And for the rest of the year, we're back to our full-time jobs. But constituents, During the interim when , when something is [00:25:00] needed, it's not, oh, I'm off the clock.
No, I'm off duty. I'm off duty. Susie, I'll talk to you during legislative session. Okay, call me about your road paving. So there's a constant triaging of making sure I'm getting the full-time job work done while also being visible and being responsive in my district for my constituent.
Got it.
so that definitely makes it difficult in terms of career prospects, right?
Jheanelle Wilkins: Not a lot of jobs in the interview, but I'm like, so for 90 days I'm just going to be Mia, dial it back, and then I'll see you late April. That can just once a year. Exactly. For a lot of legislators, some people are attorneys, you have people who are farmers, and it's really cool in legislature that we have people who come from all different kinds of fields and are still in those roles because of the.
Part-time nature of the work. But it also can create some challenges in terms of income. When you look back could you have anticipated when you joined [00:26:00] Young Dems, did your early mid twenties, that you would now be a Maryland state?
Did you have any idea?
Jheanelle Wilkins: I had no idea, and it really was me following my passion in the sense of just loving what this organization was doing and enjoying.
Advocating, lobbying for bills and issues that we cared about and being with other like-minded young people. And that literally led from one thing to another. So as I look back on it, it all makes so much sense. And I think what it teaches me, and this is what I tell people who are doing career changes, even students, we don't have to have every single thing figured out and know how it's all going to work out.
Some of it is, What is your passion and start doing that. What makes you feel good? What makes you feel like you are [00:27:00] just fulfilling your a purpose? And it sometimes leads from one step to another that you never would've thought would've happened because actually, If I, at that time, I would've been interested in running for county council.
I would've been interested in a whole different office at that time, but I ended up at the state level and I love it.
Life Leaps Podcast: Can you explain a little bit for people who aren't as familiar with local politics, what the position you're in now, where it's situated, where it fits, what you.
Jheanelle Wilkins: Sure. So I am in the State House, so the state legislature at the state level.
We have the House and the Senate, and we make the state laws. So that's everything from really big important policy bills. Like coming out of the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter movement, we passed really big, robust police reform legislation. I've talked about the maternal health work that I've [00:28:00] done.
I'm the chair of election law in the house, so any bills dealing with voting for our state. Come through the state legislature, the abortion work everyone is talking about is impacted by state legislatures all across the country Policy is happening all around you, and that's one of the things that I love about it. Even if someone isn't involved or has no idea what we do or who we are, it's still impacting them. And policy changes really impact all of our lives. So yes, think state laws, and that's what legislature does
Life Leaps Podcast: of all of those things, which is.
The law that's passed or something that's happened on your watch that you feel the most proud of?
Jheanelle Wilkins: Wow. In 2022 this year, I was able to sponsor a bill that put in our state code. When it comes to doula services that we know when women give [00:29:00] birth, that when they have a doula, they're much more likely to have a healthy outcome, both for the child and for the mom.
And now because of my bill, Medicaid. for low income women will be reimbursed for doula services. So that's not just women who can afford you a couple thousand dollars for a doula, they can now get access if you're a low income woman through Medicaid. So I was really proud of that. .
Life Leaps Podcast: Wow. as a person myself that did give birth 16 months ago and counting and is still surviving now. I can say that having that person is a really transformative experience. . I'm sure if I kept you on here longer, you could go on and on because that was just like, oh, most recently comes to mind. , what advice? You've already given a lot of advice, frankly, so you could say, I'm done here, but is there anything burning that you wanna say and share with the
Jheanelle Wilkins: rest of us. I would say since I've talked a lot about the organization that helped me to make my leap, [00:30:00] I would encourage anyone who's looking to make a leap to.
Try to find like-minded people who are involved in whether it's formal or informal organizations, so that you don't have to take the leap completely by yourself. But having that support system is something that I think is really beneficial.
Life Leaps Podcast: Maryland State Delegate Janelle Wilkins. Everyone more on her journey, including links to her Twitter at janelle w and janelle wilkins.com in the show notes for this episode.
Thank you all for being here. We're a brand new podcast, so if you enjoyed it, go ahead and follow rate and review us in your podcast app so that we can know what you liked and others can find us. It would mean. Last but not least, we'll keep you posted on brand new episodes each week when you follow us on Facebook or Instagram at you Guessed it, life Leaps podcast.
Till next time, next Wednesday on Life [00:31:00] Leaps podcast.
Gilbert "Chamo" Osorio: As I told you before, I start from from scratch. I came to America I didn't speak English. I didn't have money. the first thing that I told my brother, he picked me up at the airport, John of Kennedy.
I says, Henry, one thing I'm gonna tell you, I want to live by my own. I want to have my own. And I wanna have my own business. Those are my goals.
Life Leaps Podcast: You're 22 and you
Gilbert "Chamo" Osorio: decided that I said this is my goal in America. I'm gonna fight for it and I'm gonna get it.
Life Leaps Podcast: Till next time,