How a Community Organizer Builds Trust Before Asking for Votes
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
My name is Zosia Van Meter and I am so happy to be having this conversation with you. I hope to be the candidate and the progressive representative that you need in the ninth district to affect real change that brings accountability and transparency in local government and stability to your local infrastructure.
Zosia Van Meter is a public servant, community leader, and candidate for state representative in Massachusetts' 9th Essex District. She is dedicated to bringing people together through collaborative leadership, practical solutions, and meaningful public service that strengthens every community she serves.
I'm not a politician. I'm a community organizer who wants to change the way we see politics. I want to see less dark money, less sponsors or donations that really sway politicians one way or the other, less backroom deals, a lot of transparency, co-governance, working with the community to create good policies for the community. I'm a firm believer that progress moves at the speed of trust. So if we want to be able to affect real change,
It spans the globe like a super high school internet. Elvis. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the fun. It's not over until I win. The Living Your Legacy podcast.
How did Zosia Van Meter's transracial adoption shape her early identity?
For those who live to leave a legacy.
That's extraordinary. The impossible. Oh, that is sensational.
Jordan.
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Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast. I'm your host for today, Jason Tyler, and I am joined by Ms. Zosia Van Meter. Zosia, welcome to the show.
Hi, Jason. Thank you for having me.
Of course. Of course. So I want to just get started here with, you know, we're about to go into recording your episode for Women in Power. And this is the first question I ask all my guests on the show. What is the number one lesson you want people to be able to take away from your story?
I hope people can take away the lesson of the power and resilience.
Now, when we talk about resilience, right, we're talking about, I know you had mentioned a little bit off camera that you wanted to be able to tell your immigration story. So talk to me a little bit about coming to the U.S. Talk to me a little bit about what that was like for you.
Sure. So I was born in the southern part of the Philippines in 1986, and I was adopted and brought to the U.S. in 1988 by my adoptive mother, Gloria. And I was raised just north of Boston since then. And it was... Interesting, to say the least, you know, being a transracial adoptee, I did not grow up with Filipino culture, I grew up in an Irish Italian Catholic home. And it was interesting to grow up in a very middle class white American family as someone who did not fit that mold.
Yeah, you probably get like, you know, a look in the grocery store like, that's not that lady's baby.
What's going on?
When and how did Zosia first encounter Filipino culture in the U.S.?
That actually, so I'm mixed race and, you know, my dad's Jamaican and my mom is from Canada. And so I used to get that all the time when, you know, I'd be with my mom in the grocery store and people would give her like a look like.
Are you still a baby? I don't know. Is that your baby? I'm not really 100% sure.
And it's an interesting thing to grow up with, right? Because as a child, you don't really, you don't even really take time to process it. You're just like, stop looking at my mom like that. And now as an adult, you get to kind of go back and retroactively look at it and say, okay, like this is what was going on. I can create context for it in my head. What would you say was like, when did you get your first experience of Filipino culture?
Um, I want to say it's probably junior or senior year of high school. We had a field trip and we went to Boston College. And I got to meet some members of like a Filipino college group, where they literally just got together and played Monopoly. And, you know, everyone brought a little bit of food, they had a potluck. And they just hung out in community, just knowing that there were other Filipino kids and You know, they would speak Tagalog.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:18
2
How did Zosia Van Meter's transracial adoption shape her early identity?
1:18–3:02
3
When and how did Zosia first encounter Filipino culture in the U.S.?
3:02–5:10
4
Why did Zosia decide to run for Massachusetts state representative?
5:10–8:29
5
What platform priorities does Zosia emphasize for the 9th Essex District?
8:29–13:19
6
How does Zosia define 'progress moves at the speed of trust' in government?
13:19–17:58