Lobbying Is For Everyone

By Teena Lewis

When I accepted my role at Family Values at Work four months ago, I had no idea of the enriching liberation work I would be doing. I thought I would be archiving and sharing 20 years of paid leave progress and designing a political curriculum. But, my work and the impact of my work is much broader and more impactful than that.

This month, my colleagues and I held a virtual lobby week. We met with federal legislative staff to discuss paid family and medical leave and how we move forward from the 30th anniversary of FMLA to ensure all workers have paid leave.

Now, I have never done anything like this in my life. My closest thing to lobbying would be speaking on a topic at a city council meeting, but somehow this felt different. I felt intimidated.

Prior to us lobbying, our colleagues trained us, thank goodness. They guided us through a focused process for holding the meetings. I’ll admit, I was excited to watch the staff role play a meeting scenario. This delightful process helped me see what could happen during these virtual lobby meetings.

But, the night before, I woke up every two hours. I tossed and turned afraid I wouldn’t know how to answer a question about paid leave the following day.

It thrusted me back in time to a night as a shy nine year old, when I woke up every two hours feeling a hollow pit in my stomach, afraid to go on stage in my first leading role in a theatrical performance.

I thought to myself, What was I feeling? Why was I feeling like this?

In asking myself why were my shoulders rising higher and higher toward my ears, I heard something in my head that broke that cycle of nervousness. I distinctly heard ding, ding, ding, like the bell you hear in a boxing match, going off in my head.
Then a whoosh sound. Following that came another question and then another…
What is the reason you are lobbying in the first place?
How will folks benefit from what you have to say?

I thought to myself, anyone can lobby. That was the moment that the nervousness incrementally floated away. I felt calm, steady. In addition, my colleague Marianne Bellesorte soothed the nervousness away by sharing that we probably know more about the issues than the folks we’re meeting with.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I reframed the idea scurrying around in my head from, I’m gonna be speaking to a lawmaker’s staff, what if I don’t know what to say, or how to express it in a way that they understand, to this is what they need to know for paid leave to be accessible for all. I realized that I am meant to lobby and so is anyone else who cares about family-friendly workplace policies such as paid sick and safe days and paid family and medical leave which will result in better individual and public health, and greater financial security for families, businesses and the nation.

Teena Lewis (she/her) is Family Values @ Work’s Instructional Designer and Documentarian