00:00I am very confident in my abilities and I work every day to make sure I'm
00:05allowing other people to shine because I think that's a critical piece of
00:10leadership that you put other people forward. But fundamentally I want people
00:14to see me as someone who is kind and who wants the best for them.
00:26So Stacey, this journey, like if you could give me your journey from where you
00:36began to close, close, close to the governor's house, what does that look like?
00:42It's been an extraordinary opportunity but really hard. I call, I say here's what
00:48I'm doing, they sound very excited and then they say, is Georgia ready for a
00:53black woman? Or they point out to me that I'm black and a woman and you know it's
00:58always couched in, we know you are a good person, but we're not sure Georgia is
01:02ready. And really it's a reflection of their own fears. But the other piece has
01:07been this extraordinary opportunity to meet people I didn't know, especially
01:11people I thought didn't like me, who've offered help. And so this journey has
01:15really been about understanding myself, but it's also been an opportunity to get
01:21past what I expected of others and to understand that there are people who are
01:25more than I thought and there are people who think less of me than I realized. But
01:30that in either space, part of being the leader of the state is knowing how to
01:35process and manage both of those pieces.
01:37What is or what was your biggest fear?
01:42There are two of them and I describe them. One is stereotype and the other is
01:46authenticity. You know, I'm a noticeably black woman.
01:49Black woman distance.
01:51You can't miss me.
01:53Right.
01:53And you know, it's my hair, it's my skin color, it's my facial structure. You can tell
01:58I'm black. That gives me entry into some spaces, but it also excludes me.
02:03Sure.
02:03But when you enter, people expect certain things of you. And so I was deathly afraid
02:08of meeting those stereotypes of being what they think of when they think of a black woman
02:14in politics. I also was afraid of not being honestly myself. And what if part of who I
02:20am meets those stereotypes? And so this tension you're dealing with where you, you have to
02:25be wholly who you are, but you don't want that to be a disqualification.
02:30It's a radical notion to be unapologetically black and woman and smart and geeky and cool
02:38and coyly hair. Like, you're a lot. And I think that's where I'm celebrating it and I think
02:45it's dope. You know, it can be really confronting to other people because you also, when you stand
02:54in a room, you can also be a reflection of what they are not.
02:57In this campaign, I've gone into Kiwanis clubs where there is no one in there who was expecting
03:03to see me and they're not certain how I got in and they're trying to find the door so they
03:08can, you know, usher me out. And I have to give them the exact same me that I give in
03:13a
03:14beauty salon. I need them to hear me and to hear something in what I say that they can find
03:19reflective of their needs. What do you want America to know about the America that you
03:26see? I want America to understand that I understand, that I see them, that while our narratives may
03:34not be the same, our stories are. But fundamentally, that my leadership is not a diminution of anyone
03:42else. That, in fact, my election means that we've moved forward and more people now have
03:47access. My victory is our victory. And that's the America we want. That it's an America that
03:53requires work. It requires effort. It requires blind faith sometimes that it's going to work out even
03:58though nothing says it should. And it requires a confidence that is not grounded in anything other
04:03than what your mama told you was good about you. But we have to believe that we're valuable
04:08everywhere. And that part of our value is our ability to lead and our ability to demand more
04:15of our city, demand more of our state. Because being special isn't just about you. It's about,
04:20again, how are you yoked together? How are you linked to other people so that your success
04:24creates space for their success?
