Mother's Quest: The Podcast

As I bring you this episode, we are less than two weeks from the 2024 U.S. Election. In preparation for this moment, I seized the opportunity to sit down with Melissa Walker, a children's book author turned powerful political advocate, instrumental in the founding of an organization called The States Project.  Melissa’s path to The States Project was paved in the election results of 2016 which, like it did for so many of us, became a catalyst for activism. Looking for a way to get more intimately involved in our democratic process, her journey took a powerful turn when she attended a holiday party where then New York state senator Daniel Squadron, opened her eyes to the influence of state governments. She learned that issues—like education, healthcare, civil rights, and voting rights—are often decided in state capitals, not Washington, D.C. This spark led her to gather other mothers and children's book authors in her own living room to create what they called a States Project Giving Circle. That group went o