The Daily Signal - In Divisive Times, Remember: ‘There’s Something Amazing About Being an American’

Episode Date: February 18, 2020

The question that so many Americans are asking today is, how do we unite our nation once again? In the midst of so much division, how can we remember that we are "one nation under God?" Today's guest is bestselling author, journalist, and political commentator Sophia Nelson, who dives into the topic of unity in America and exhorts us to remember that the Founding Fathers “never said we had to agree all the time." "They never said we had to like each other all the time, because they didn't," Nelson says. "What they wanted was unity of purpose, and unity and loyalty to the Bill of Rights, and to the freedoms that keep us uniquely American.” Be sure to check out all of Sophia Nelson's books: 1. Black Woman Redefined: Dispelling Myths and Discovering Fulfillment (2011) 2. The Woman Code: 20 Powerful Keys to Unlock Your Life (2014) 3. ePluribus One: Reclaiming Our Founders Vision for a United America (2017) Also on today show, we talk with Ean Williams, Executive Director of D.C. Fashion Week about the ways in which our Nations Capital affects the fashion industry, and what the 2020 fall and winter wardrobe necessities are. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, February 18th. I'm Robert Blewey. And I'm Virginia Allen. Happy birthday to our first president, George Washington. President Washington's birthday is technically on the 22nd, but as a nation, we always recognize it on the third Monday of February. So we hope that you had a chance to celebrate a little bit yesterday. Today is the third installment of our Black History Month series, and we are excited to share

an interview with bestselling author, journalist, and political commentator, Sophia Nelson. We also share your first-selling. letters to the editor and a very unique good news interview with Ian Williams, the executive director of D.C. Fashion Week. Before we get to today's show, Virginia and I want to tell you about one of the most popular resources here at the Heritage Foundation. It's called The Guide to the Constitution. More than 100 scholars have contributed to create a unique line-by-line analysis of our Constitution. The guide is intended to provide a brief and accurate explanation of each clause of the Constitution as envisioned by the framers and as applied in contemporary law.

If you want to gain a deeper understanding of our founding document, visit heritage.org slash constitution or simply Google Heritage Guide to the Constitution. Now stay tuned for today's show. Coming up next. We are joined on the Daily Signal podcast by bestselling author, journalist, and political commentator Sophia Nelson. Sophia, thanks so much for being with us. My pleasure.

Sophia, throughout the month of February, we are excited to highlight the work of African Americans like yourself. And I'd like to ask you to begin by sharing with our listeners how you originally got involved in media and politics. Well, you know, it's a great story. I think I'd like to start with someone that your audience will be familiar with who was a mentor of mine, guy named Ed Meese, former attorney general. And we all love General Meese. And I want to send him much love right at the outset of this and thank him because

but for him I would not be where I am. And he was someone that I knew from law school. And when I was ready to start my career, I gave him a phone call and said, I want to come work on the hill. You know, can we make this happen? And he made a phone call to a former congressman, then Chris Cox, who was chair of one of the subcommittees

and the rest of history. I mean, it's amazing what can happen through the power of connection. And I bring up General Meese on purpose because I think that when we think about those who have been trailblazers like Kay, Cole James, your president, and others, there's always somebody in the shadows that's helped us. You know, there's always somebody that's opened a door for you that's created an entry point. And General Meese did that for me. And it has just been since that time an amazing journey from being young lawyer, committee council, to litigating in a big firm, to working at the U.S. Chamber, to you're writing books. And now, you know, as I like to say, I'm a recovering lawyer. And I, you know, am enjoying

being a journalist and a writer and a pundit. Well, I'm so glad you commented on General Meese. He is a great colleague of ours here at Heritage. And he is certainly a connector in the way that you described. What an apt description for him. You know, we obviously, at the The Daily Signal, work in the media business. What was it like making that transition from going from law to politics to now being somebody who's a well-known commentator? You know, it's a very natural transition if you think about it, right? Particularly if you're here in Washington. I don't know, you know, if you were somewhere else in the country, say if you were in Kansas or in New Mexico or someplace where there's not

this 24-7 news cycle obsession. And as you know, a lot of us go. from working on Capitol Hill as staffers or even members of Congress themselves, attorneys, committee council, you know, big trade associations. And the doors are always wide open for opportunity, right, to go into the private sector, if you want, or to go into the public sector and go into media. And particularly, Robin, you're like this where you have a presidential election and you've got the Congress will be up for election. It's a big election year.

they add more punants to the roster every day. And most of them come from the Hill. Most of them are lawyers by background or journalists, you know, for major publication. So it's actually a pretty easy transition. And for someone like myself that loves to talk and it loves to write, it was a very easy transition. So I love it. And Sophia, did you always consider yourself a conservative or was there a point in time when you sort of step back and said, wow, I really identify with the conservative values.

Well, you know, as an African-American woman now of, I hate to admit it 50 years of age, and it is what it is, you know, it happens to you, right? But I, you know, I think that a lot of people don't understand the journey of African-Americans and conservative values. And in my family, I can tell you, like many African-American families, going back generations, we can trace on my mother's side in particular, dating back to right after the Civil War, Republican, you know, members of our family engaged in politics all the way up through Dwight Eisenhower and into even Richard Nixon's presidency.

And so I grew up, like many African Americans, certainly like, hey, in the black church, in the church, I grew up with a set of values. Mother, father taught me certain things. There was right, there was wrong, there's what you do, there's what you're not, what you don't do. I grew up in a military family. So, you know, Second Amendment was embraced in my household. And I want your listeners to know that that's not uncommon, particularly for someone in my age group, Gen X, or now maybe for millennials, it's a little bit different. But so conservative values were always in the family and always on the table. And I think pulsating just vigorously

throughout the black church and throughout the church, right? So I think that for me it was a natural type of affiliation, but it was Jack Kemp that inspired me on my college campus in 1988. It was the first time I could vote for a president that year. And he was running in the primary, and I heard him speak, and that was it for me. And I came home and announced I was going to be a Republican. I'm not sure that went over so well. But with my folks who are, again, they're baby boomers, right? So they were a little more, what I would call left the center, than their parents, the greatest generation who had certainly been Eisenhower Republicans. And before that, you know, a legacy in the family dating all the way down from Lincoln to Teddy Roosevelt.

So I think that for me, I like to found the Alex P. Keaton in the family. Now, you've got to be old to know who Alex P. Keaton was, family ties, you know, Michael J. Fox's character, liberal parents. and he's like, you know, the Reagan-loving conservative in the household. So that was pretty much me growing up. But, yeah, it was a pretty natural affinity. My value system, my face system would lend me to be more conservative. I think as I've aged, they say women get more liberal and men get more conservative. That's interesting.

I think that I would comfortably call myself an independent conservative. I am not happy right now with either political party, if I'm going to be honest. just, I think they're both just not where the country needs to be, but I think that common sense conservative values and being a compassionate conservative is something I really want to see us move towards in this next decade or so. Thanks so much for sharing that great story, Sophia. We appreciate that historical perspective. And also, you mentioning Jack Kemp, who has inspired so many of us here at Heritage,

you know, Heritage is, of course, a nonpartisan organization. So I think that we see that frustration with the political parties. And I know we want to get to that a little bit later in the interview. But I wanted to ask about a book that you wrote called E Pluribus 1, reclaiming our founder's vision for a United America. Tell us more about it and why you felt it was important to write. Well, for those listening in your audience, of course, E Pluribus is the out of many. And I translated the word one. So I harkened back to our founding motto, which was created by Charles Thompson.

and in 1780, He poribos Unum, and I just translated the word Unum into one because I wanted the one to really stick out on the cover of the book now. You've got it.

You've seen it. It's a pretty book cover. It's very patriotic. And I don't know if you flipped over and seen the picture on the back, but I looked kind of cool on the back picture there, so you should check that out. But the one,

I wanted the one to really jump out at everybody because I wrote this book. I penned it on a hunch that I had an inkling that our current president would win, and I just did. And we talked about that a little later when you get into the politics segment. But I wanted to write a book that really reminded us that no matter whether we're Democrat, Republican, conservative, or liberal, there's something amazing about being an American. It's something amazing about being able to be united even when we disagree.

And I think we've lost that. and I think we've lost it in a really big way. We've become very uncivil, in civil, we've become very unkind, and we now want to look at our fellow American who doesn't agree with us, and now they're not an American or they're not patriotic. And that's not the way this country was founded. This country was founded by 13 colonies. If you think that South Carolina and Massachusetts liked each other, you're wrong.

If you think that Rhode Island and Virginia had a lot in common, you're wrong. They didn't agree on much of anything. Certainly the issue of slavery was a huge dividing block between the colonies. And so yet these men, these founding fathers as it were, and of course founding mothers too, but these founding fathers really understood that if they were going to defeat tyranny and elevate liberty, if they were going to create a new nation based on equality and the great things that Jefferson talks about in the Declaration of Independence, these truths that are self-evident that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator, God, right, with certain unalienable rights,

then they had to unite, and they were going to have to get past their differences, and they were going to have to stand shoulder to shoulder and fight the tyrant in order to elevate liberty. And so, as a woman of color again, a lot of people said to me, what are you doing writing a book about the founding fathers? Like, those guys are rogue. They had slaves. They were chauvinists, all the things that people said. Well, they might be right about all that in one sense, but in another sense, these men were also brilliant.

They were trailblazers. They were flaws. They were human. They had weaknesses. Yes, do I like the notion that this country started half slave and half free? I do not. I am a direct lineal descendant of slaves on my mother's side, direct. And a great, great, great, great grandfather who was a slave owner's son, and they ran off together. We could talk about that story later. The point is that all of us is a part of this great American tax. This great journey. And I want us to embrace the men and women, regardless again, whether that had an R by their name or a D by their name or an independent by their name. And I want people to understand

the greatness of America is that we perfect this union. It was not born perfect. I think Condi Rice said it best when she said that America's great birth defect is slavery. And I think that's such a great way to put it. But I think that since that time, we've tried to write that wrong. We've tried to perfect that union and look at where we are. We had an African-American president. We have women's senators and governors and CEOs. We have black astronauts. We have Latino members of Congress and statesmen. And so we have definitely perfected. We've righted and we continue to do that. So the whole notion of Eploribus, one, is that our founders, really had a vision for a united

country. And their original vision, as like I said, put forth in 1780 when Sam Adams commissioned Charles Thompson to come up with a motto, and they came up with the plurbas and no matter of many one, you know, they got it. They understood it was the unity

that was going to keep this republic strong. They never said we had to agree all the time. They never said we had to like each other all the time because they didn't. What they wanted was unity of purpose. and unity and loyalty to the Bill of Rights and to the freedoms that keep us uniquely American. And so I elevated that in the book by talking about our founding principles by highlighting the men and women throughout history.

Like I said, in every chapter there's a male and a female that I wanted to show the men and the women, regardless of where they came from or who they were that contributed to the greatness of this country. and how we keep it moving forward. Sophia, that is so critical to take the time to go back and remember where we have come from as a nation and what our history is. So what has people's response been to the book? Well, it's now two years old. It has, you know, it was a genre switch for me, right? Because my first two books, the first one earned a Pulitzer nod. I didn't win.

I got nominated, but it got a, you know, a best nonfiction book award. my second one, one of the bestselling women books of all time. So I've written books about women, like women's inspiration and women's leadership. And I really made a genre switch when I went to politics. But I wanted to take those same principles of inspiration, of connection, of courageous conversation, the things that I talk about to women in, you know, the world's biggest companies and all around the globe. And I wanted to apply it to our body politic, to our public square. So the response, I think, was it picked up when it first came out.

Nobody wanted to buy the book because they were mad. Everybody was mad after the 2016 election. And I mean this sincerely, nobody wanted to talk about unity. Nobody wanted to talk about why we needed to be one country. And then within about six months, we couldn't keep them in stock. As, you know, I talked about it more on TV and people began to see, oh, my, we're really divided. Oof, this isn't good. And then when Charlottesville happened, that was a game changer.

And it really propelled me and the book into a different type of spotlight because people said Sophia got that she saw it coming. And she was trying to warn us and wave the flag and say, hey, guys, we got to figure this out. And so it has been a great response to the book. I get invited all over to speak, colleges, companies, trade associations all over, literally all over the world. I've been to Australia, I've been everywhere, to talk about this great American experiment and the light and the spark that I think is still the envy of the world, no matter how messy it might get over here, no matter how much we might poke at each other and try to fight with each other, we're still the great envy of the rest of the world.

So it's been a good response. I've been happy with it. It's no secret that you have been critical of President Donald Trump. If you sat down with the president today, how would you encourage, encourage him to go about advocating and advancing some of those principles that you write about in the book. Well, look, I, you know, that's a tough question. I really would like to sit down with him at I'd like to have them to my house and have some coffee with them and say, let me talk to you for a minute. Let me help you for a minute. And what I would tell him is, Mr. President, you've got some good policies. Like, you really do. You've done some good things. The problem is I would tell him what I

tell my young nieces and others when they don't know how to get out of their own way. sometimes we need to learn to not always say what we're thinking. We certainly shouldn't always tweet what we're thinking. And I think that when we're in these positions of, as the president in the United States, you're in the most esteemed, you know, position in the world, what you say matters and how you say it matters even more. And I get that this president isn't perhaps like any other that we've had in the sense that, you know, he wasn't in public life before and he wasn't a senator or a governor or something like that.

I get that. And perhaps part of the appeal of him was that people wanted somebody who would go to Washington and do these unconventional things, because I think we can all agree whether we're Democrats, Republicans, or independents, that Washington is broken. It's not working. And it hasn't worked for a really long time. And I really hope we can all at least agree on that. And I think that I wish he would stand up and be a different kind of man. I wish he would act like a man of faith. I wish he would talk like one. I wish he would encourage and motivate and inspire. fire. Because as my grandmother used to say, who just turned 92 weeks ago and she's still awesome, she always just telling me you can get more with honey than with vinegar. And I, and I, kind of, that stuck with me. And she's right that I think you have more appeal to people when it's how you say things and how you reach them. I think that this president probably could have had a very different presidency these last few years had he just tempered himself and understood more about how you have to manage Washington and, you know, kind of just how you talk to people. But that's what I would tell him. I think those principles of unity are so important. I think he's had some monumental moment as a

president with a lot of the, like I said, Charlottesville and some of those opportunities were missed moments for him where he really could have stepped up and stepped in and really brought the country together, which is what we're really used to seeing presidents do, you know, whether it's W or Obama or Reagan or George Herbert Walker Bush, who I just thought was an amazing human being. And, you know, I think he's broken the mold a little bit. So, yeah, yeah, I'm not a fan. That's true.

But, you know, I wish he would do better. Well, I hope you do have an opportunity to have that sit-down meeting. I think that it would be certainly lively and educational. You know, taking a step beyond Trump for a moment, you know, I want to ask how conservatives, like those of us at the Heritage Foundation or the Daily Signal can more effectively reach Americans and be at minorities, young people, or women. What positive and uplifting messages should we be focusing on? Are there certain policy issues where you think that there's common ground that we should focus on?

I do, and I've thought that for the last 30 years. Like I said, I've been, you know, a part of the Republican Party for the last, since 1988. and recently I made a decision that's probably better for me to be an independent. I think that you can't be at odds with everything your party does and still be a part of it. And it's really not the values

or the policies. It's kind of who's talking about it. So, for example, I've been saying for years, for decades, to Republicans, the message is fine. It's the messengers I have the problem with. If you want to talk to communities of color, if you want to talk to women,

They need to see people that look like them in leadership roles and roles of authority, people that they can connect to, people who grew up in their neighborhood. You know, one of the things I've always prided myself on, if I ever decide to run for office, and I'm sure I probably will, you know, I think about it, we're talking about it. But I think that one of the things that I pride myself on is I will be able to go into any community, whether it is the black community, with women, with other racial minorities, whether it's talking to a group of white men that embrace the Confederate flag with guns, I'm not afraid to go talk to them because I don't think you should be afraid of your fellow Americans.

And I think that if you run on your ideas and if you can talk about your ideas and if you can sell people on why your idea is better than the other guys, not tearing the other guy down, not ripping him down, not talking about his family, not talking about what he did when he was 19 or 20. Who cares? What people want to hear is how are you going to make my life better? and I think conservatives have done themselves a disturbance by running away. And I know if Jack were on this interview, he'd agree with me. They've done a disservice by running away from constituencies that need their message now more than ever. No community could benefit more from that Jack Kemp, urban, entrepreneurial, you know, lowered taxes, self-advancement message than the African-American community in places like Chicago.

or places like, you know, camp in New Jersey or Newark or the urban areas. I mean, let's face it, look at the top 50 cities in this country. When's the last time a Republicans run any of those cities? And then look at how bad off many of those cities are economically. And so it is a difference of philosophy. It's a difference of how we get to the result. I think Republicans and conservatives are for health care. I think they're for protecting the elderly.

I think they want to feed hungry kids in this country. But we always fail in how we talk about it. And we fail because if you don't, you know, my Christmas party, next year I'm going to make sure you guys are invited to the Christmas party. And I say that because my Christmas party is always a really big deal. And, you know, you got a lot of different people in here. You might have, you meet Chalcender from PBS. And then you'll have, you know, you might have Sharon Breen. from Fox News.

And you'll see them talking in a corner. And I pride myself on having a party and gathering, particularly in my home, where people are different and they look different. And I always point that out to them. And invariably, people break out in applause because they look around the room and they realize, yeah, I've not been in a room like this forever where they're white men and black women and African-American men and Latinos and Asians and. And again, they're from all different political persuasions, and I throw everybody into the same room together, and they get along just fine, and they do great.

And I think we have to do more of that, and we have to not be afraid of each other and not be afraid to talk about things like conservatives need to go into black churches, and you need to not be afraid of that. They need to, just because you're a white guy running for Congress doesn't mean you shouldn't go talk to the black people that live in your community. That's stupid. If you have a message, share your message. And don't be afraid. And you'd be amazed how people respond when, one, you have the courage to show up. And two, he give them a different way to look at things. And showing up is part of it where people respect you because you came to them and you said, I don't agree with how they want to do it, but here's how I want to do it. And here's what I think. And I think. that I can prove to you that this might work better for you, your kids, your family. People tend to listen to that kind of stuff. And I think we've just missed a tremendous opportunity by how we don't venture out to take conservative values and messages to places that need them the most in this country. Sophia, we could not agree with you more. That's something that we talk a lot about at Heritage, that importance of building unity and reaching across the aisle and just the power of showing up

That's a focus of the Heritage Foundation and of our president, Kay James. And you've known and worked with Kay James. Yeah, she's wonderful. We love her so much. What role has she played in your own political journey? Oh, wow. You know, I look at Kay. Kay is like another mom.

She and my mom are age cohorts. You know, they're baby boomer women. Both conservative women, both, I call them, you know, both godly women, you know, just about their families and their grandchildren and and and and just uh just good women so k is a role model for me not just certainly from a a political or career type of perspective but as a human being I like the way she lives her light and that's big to me um I I talk about that a lot in my book about you know it's and and if you think about what just happened um you know with the death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter which tragic you know just very

tragic and sad and the other people, it makes us all stop and it makes us reflect on our living and our dying. And when I think of who I want to be when I lead this earth, it's a person like a Kay James who has built something. She's built legacy. You've probably been to the Gloucester Institute or you're aware of it. And the work that she does to pour into African-American students and students of color to expose them to conservative ideas and values and to give them a part of their history that they don't necessarily always get in college or in high school. And I also think that Kay has been an inspiration to those of us who are women of color who are more conservative or even moderate because they're very few of us.

I can count the number of black conservative women I know who've reached the heights, if you will, of politics or policy in Washington on one hand. And Kay is at the top of that. And her sentient heritage to president to me is this, I kind of still can't believe it because it's pretty amazing. And I say that because it's probably something that no one thought would ever happen. And it's, I think she's done an amazing job. I think that she is the right person for the times we live in because she knows how to talk to her community. She went to an HBCU. She is grounded in her community.

So no one can challenge her on her love of her community, her loyalty to her community. And it's important to be able to walk in both worlds where Kay can be in a room full of conservative white men and do just as well as she could be in a room of all black pastors and talk to them just the same. And that's where we need to be in this country. And I think she's a great role model for how we create bridges and dialogues and opportunity to just stop with one another. Break bread. You know, we need to get back to some basics in this country.

We've got to stop all the meanness and all the unkindness and giving each other a black guy. And we've got to learn to sit down and have some calls. coffee, have a glass of wine, and just talk and listen. I mean, you'll be okay. You'll survive it. It's really okay. And I think that Kay is really good at setting that type of example for me and for others. That's so true.

Having worked with her closely for the last two years, it's certainly, I'm open my eyes to new ways of thinking about things and the challenges that she gives her staff are really incredible. And I will say I'm a better person as a result of having her as a leader of heritage and thankful for it. You know, if I might, real quickly, you made me think of something that I wanted to say when I was talk about General Meese. You know, I brought him up intentionally and Jack Kemp, too, again, for your listeners to understand something very important. Now, when I was a young woman in Washington, you know, 30 years ago, and I'm a young committee counsel and all those things, there, I was it. It was me.

You know, K was somewhere. I could call K. But that was pretty much it. There wasn't a whole lot of us running around. And I want people to understand that Ed Meese and Chris Cox and very conservative men took me under their wing. Dan Burton, who a lot of people, you know, were not very kind to in the media. I thought he was extreme. I thought he was a little strange, whatever they said about him, conservative.

But these guys took me under their wing. They elevated me professionally. They supported. They encouraged. And they were mentors. And I think it's so important for people to know. that your mentor doesn't have to look like you. They don't have to just be from where you're from.

They can be someone that's completely different from you, from a different generation. They can be a white male if you're a young woman of color, and they can help you. And I feel very fortunate to have had that type of experience because I think it's so important for this new generation to understand. And I think they get it actually. I think the millennials are pretty phenomenal in terms of,

I mean, if you have kids and if you, you, you know, have young nieces and nephews or whatever. You've seen them. Their friends are like the UN. They don't see race, which I really, they don't. They are just all over the place, and that is awesome. And that's very different from when I grew up and certainly different from when Kay grew up. And so I'm optimistic about where I think we're headed, but I think that we've got to get past our differences.

And that's why I really try to focus on on oneness and unity. Even when we disagree, we have to be unified in what America's about, what her value is, why she's so important and why this republic must stand long after we're gone. So I just wanted to kind of let people know that it's, you know, your mentors don't always have to look like you. Sophia, thanks for sharing that optimistic advice about our future. I know you have said that you believe in the best in people. And that's great advice and words of wisdom for our listeners. For those who want to follow your work and learn more about you, what would you recommend? How can they go about doing that?

Well, certainly, you know, good old Google will give you everything. It certainly will. But I think that following on it, look, if you like Fifee Sophia, you want to follow me on Twitter at I am Sophia. Nelson, if you want a more conversion, you want to go to my Facebook page, Sophia, Nelson. But everything's I am Sophia Nelson, whether it's on Instagram or Twitter. for your women listeners, I certainly want to recommend you, particularly my second book, The Woman Code, 20 Powerful Keys on Lock You Like,

because I think it's a game changer. It was, you know, it's a crossover book. It's a Christian book, but it's also a professional book, and it's about what it means to be a woman in living by a code. And, you know, I think that, like I said, we need to get back to some basics, but you can find me pretty easy on I am Sophia Nelson on every platform. Sophia, thank you so much for your time today. We really appreciate it.

It's my pleasure. Thank you. If you're tired of high taxes, fewer health care choices, and bigger and bigger government, it's time to partner with the most impactful conservative organization in America. We're the Heritage Foundation, and we're committed to solving the issues America faces. Together, we'll fight back against the rising tide of homegrown socialism, and we'll fight for conservative solutions that are making families more free and more prosperous. But we can't do it without you. Please join us at heritage.org.

Thanks for sending us your letters to the editor. Each Monday we feature our favorites on this show and in the Daily Signal's Morning Bell email newsletter. Virginia, who's up first? Howard J. Hart Jr. writes, Dear Daily Signal, Kelsey Bowler's treatment in her video report of the issue of transgender athletes in girls sports is more in depth than a previous article I read on the same subject. Transgender inclusive sensitivity for athletes is being made way more complicated than it needs to be. The solution to the problem, without disrespect, is plain as the nose on the faces of those who champion this movement. For any athlete convinced of being transgender, create a new class of athletics, transgender, or perhaps pangender.

No need to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of states. And Russ Sloan writes, as a former college athletic director, I know another reason to vote against the Equal Rights Amendment that Jared Stettman didn't mention in his commentary. The ERA would destroy Title IX and women's athletic programs. Just as the Supreme Court ruled that there could not be separate but equal schools based on race, under ERA, you could not have separate but equal athletic programs based on gender. schools would offer one team in each of their sports programs, and everyone would have an equal opportunity to make that team.

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podcast available every weekday morning. We're doing our good news story a little differently today. We have a guest with us for a good news interview. Ian Williams is the executive director of Fashion Week, D.C. Ian, thanks so much for being here. Thank you for having me. So DC Fashion Week is February 20th through the 23rd. But, Ian, you know, D.C. isn't really the first city that comes to mind when you think fashion. But would you just take a minute and tell me a little bit about how you got involved with D.C. Fashion Week and the role that D.C. does play in the fashion industry. Well, it also depends on who you would ask.

So we are not known for fashion as one of our main industries per se to, just the general public. Of course, that would be travel and politics because that's where our biggest strengths are. However, fashion does play a very pivotal role here in the nation's capital. I have a long background of being in the fashion industry from starting off as a professional model and actor to being a modeling instructor for leading fashion school for over a decade to actually launching D.C. Fashion Week. roughly over 15 years ago. Wow. Now, you have a really unique approach to Fashion Week in D.C. You're really passionate about making fashion that's something that can be accessible to everyone and representative of all people, of all different shapes and sizes and backgrounds.

So how is D.C. Fashion Week really leading the charge on this front? Well, we're the first to launch many of the platforms that now, many of the other fashion weeks have now adopted. Our very first fashion week, we included plus-size models, and they weren't the industry standard of plus size, which is starting at a size 8. We used models who were sizes 18 to 20. There were twins, and that made news. And then during a time period where the nation was very sensitive about different cultures, after 9-11, we launched modesty fashion, which of course is very popular with the Muslim community. and now we see other fashion weeks showcasing modesty fashion. We see other pre-articles featuring modesty editorials,

and even Rihanna did one for, I believe, L. Magazine, which was just unheard of. Also, a lot of policies affecting the fashion industry are actually authored here in the nation's capitals, such as special visas for models that are traveling here internationally to come to the United States, to also just protecting the designers copyrights on their design. So although we're not known for fashion being one of our main industries, for a city, we do have policy and change that affects the industry around the world. That's really interesting. It's interesting to hear that background and that role that DC does uniquely get to play within the industry.

So as you kind of stated, you've been in the industry for a long time. You are an entrepreneur. How has your entrepreneurial spirit really served you well within the fashion industry? Well, what is done is my background is computer engineering because my parents were not excited about me wanting to be a model initially in the industry. So I did complete that also what did a stint in the Air Force for four years. And then I left there and went to work for NASA for a little over a decade. The advantage of that was while I was doing that for my main professional career, I was also modeling and acting on the side. Having an engineering background allowed me to use best practices in terms of organization and logistics,

and I think that is certainly well as executive director and producer. And also because I've had so many roles in the fashion industry, I can understand each person's role and pick the right team from hair and makeup to photography, to models, to designing. I've also taught as a leading modeling school for a little for a decade as well. so I'm very hands-on with Fashion Week. It finally allowed me to just chase my passion. I left corporate America about 11 years ago, and I'm solely focused on fashion now,

and I've never been happier. That's great. That's a huge blessing to do something that you love. Yes, absolutely. And we have an mayor, we have an administration now that really supports the creative community. We have this big initiative in Nations Capital Cultural II creates where they just celebrate the whole month of September,

which is also when we have our spring, summer collection, the Fashion Week. It just celebrates the arts and culture of our city. One of the thing you should notice about D.C. is that every major fashion label has a retail presence here, and there are not very many cities. They can say that outside of, like, New York and L.A. and maybe Miami. every major designer has a retail presence here, and that wouldn't be possible if the actual city did not support it. You see a number of shopping centers in malls and boutiques.

It has also been voted as one of the best cities to actually launch a creative industry business. So DC is really on the map for fashion now. Wow, that's exciting. I didn't realize that's neat. It is. It really is. Our goal for Fashion Week of We're non-profitous to really

celebrate the different diverse cultures around the world and how fashion plays a role in that and because we're also home to many of the embassies we've been able to form partnerships with several of them to have designers from their countries come here and they get support with the embassy to get support with us and it's just been a real blessing

just to see all the different cultures and people come together and see where a lot of things originate from and then see how it makes it into mainstream fashion. The fashion is, it's obviously a business and it's affected by the economy, just like any other business. So how is the industry as a whole doing right now? The industry, well, there are some major changes. And I can only, in my professional opinion, the companies that are failing, and there are a lot, are failing are two, there are two,

there are two things that they're not doing. One, they underestimate the value of having an online retail business. That's the first thing. So Amazon is really shutting down a lot of brick and mortar stores. And two, I believe a lot of labels have, are failing to realize that the demographics of the U.S. are changing and that they have to be more inclusive. And as a result, by them not doing that, they are losing their market share.

So you have prominent places like a Lord and Taylor or Victoria's Secret or even something that comes out to just, decorating your home with bedbatch and beyond, or payless shoes, which is a very affordable shoe and stylish. They have just failed to keep up with the market trends, and it doesn't matter how big of a base you have if you fail to do that. The biggest power is held in the hands of the consumer. They determine who stays and who goes, and when you forget who your existing basis, and

you take them for granted, and you fail to attract new business. not going to survive. So in that aspect, we see the decline of a lot of businesses. All right. So last question. So Fashion Week in D.C. is February 20th through the 23rd. And this year, or at this time, you're showcasing the autumn and winter 2020 fashion line. But for people like me who shop at stores like T.J. Max and loft and they're always looking for a bargain and a sale, what are two or, you know, three critical pieces? that I need to make sure I have in my wardrobe this year? Well, especially on trend, what's what happened?

You're going to see a lot more capes that are going on. You're going to see a lot of clothing that is a little oversized as opposed to being completely top-fitted. So that's one of the things that are great that you're going to see. You can never go bad with a great pair of shoes, and you also have to have that statement, assessor repeat, if it works for you.

So that can be either a purse for you, it can be a watch, it can be a piece of jewelry, but you want to have that to kind of express as your personality as matter what type of work environment that you have. All right, well, Ian, we just so appreciate

your time today, and thank you so much for sharing a little bit about D.C. fashion with us. Thank you for having me. And again, if anyone's interested in, like, volunteer opportunities D.C. Fashion Week, we do have it twice a year during the months of February in September. And, of course, our website is D.C. FashionWe.com. You can follow us on social media. We are the

official D.C. Fashion Week on Twitter and also on Facebook. I hope you see you somewhere near the catwalk. Perfect. Thanks so much. All right, we are going to leave it there for today. The Daily Signal podcast comes to you from the Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio at the Heritage Foundation. You can find it on the Rurkishay Audio Network. All of our shows can be found at DailySignal.com slash podcasts. You can also subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or your favorite podcast app. And be sure to listen every weekday by adding the Daily Signal podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing.

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