June 12, 2025 • 33 mins
This is what Big Goal Energy really looks like. In this electrifying conversation, Bri sits down with Deja Foxx—a 25-year-old changemaker running for Congress in Arizona. From being homeless at 15 to shaping national policy, Deja’s story is proof that you don’t need a political dynasty to make a political impact. What you'll learn in this episode:
- How to lead without permission or legacy
- Why hopelessness is a signal to get involved
- What it really takes to start before you're ready
- Guerrilla marketing for grassroots change
- How community care fuels personal resilience
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello everyone, and welcome to Big Goal Energy. I'm your hostess,
Brisia Lee, and we are coming to today with actually
a very special episode. You may notice, if you are
a regular listener, that this is being released on a Thursday,
in addition to the episode that was already released on Tuesday.
I knew that I needed to interview Deja Fox the
(00:24):
second I heard her speak, and I've been following her
online for a while. Her most recent debate really struck
a chord in me. I started learning more about her.
I learned that she was also raised by a single mom,
(00:44):
that her mom also relied on benefits, food assistants, things
like that, And I knew that coming from a circumstance
like that and still pursuing your big Goal energy, still
going out there and doing big things in the world
despite the need to survive, is incredible. So I wanted
(01:10):
to get her on the podcast and ask her some
of these questions, which you will be hearing in the
coming episode. But let me tell you a little bit
more about her in case you are not yet familiar
with her, and then we will dive into the interview.
Dejah Fox was raised by a single mom in Tucson, Arizona.
As a free lunch kid in public schools, her family
(01:31):
relied on SNAP benefits, Section eight housing, and Medicaid to
make ends meet. Having experienced homelessness because of her mother's
struggles with substance abuse, she balanced high school classes with
long nights working at a gas station. Deja found her
first fight advocating for better sex education in Tucson schools,
(01:51):
where she organized a campaign of student storytellers, delivering a
win for tens of thousands of students who until then
had been when learning a curriculum last updated in the
nineteen eighties. She later went viral for confronting then Senator
Jeff Flake after he voted to strip her and millions
of other women of their access to essential birth control funding.
(02:14):
After graduating from Columbia University as the first in her
family to receive a college degree, Deja moved back to
Tucson to continue the fight for women, youth, and underserved
communities in the heart of southern Arizona. On April second,
twenty twenty five, Deja announced her candidacy to become the
first jen Z woman elected to Congress, running in the
(02:37):
open seat in Arizona's seventh congressional district. You can learn
more and support Deja by visiting her campaign website at
dejafox dot com. That's dee jafoxx dot com. Please enjoy
this episode and if it moves you in any way
spoiler alert, I get tearied at one point in this converse.
(03:00):
If it moves you in any way, please please please
forward it onto a friend and share it with a
young woman in your life, a young girl in your life,
and let's ignite some big goal energy in the next generation.
You were never meant for a small life. You have
bold ideas, audacious dreams, and visions that keep you up
(03:24):
at night. But the truth is big goals don't come
with step by step instructions, and success doesn't come from
doing more. It comes from becoming more. Welcome to Big
Goal Energy a podcast for high achieving women who are
done shrinking, striving, and second guessing and are ready to
defy reality in pursuit of the life they actually want.
(03:46):
I'm your hostess, free Sealy, goal architect, subconscious strategist and
your permission slip to want what you want. Join me
as we go beyond the service level success to explore
the mindset identity and inner work wired to bring your biggest,
most delulu goals to life. This is your space to
be seen, to be expanded, and to remember that you
(04:07):
are not alone on this journey. Let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Please help me give a big goal. Welcome to Deja Fox. Hello, Hello,
thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I am so so grateful and excited that you're here.
As I mentioned in the opening, I've been kind of
a watching I'm unfortunately not able to vote for you,
but I've been watching your campaign from afar. When I
announced on Instagram Story that I would be interviewing you,
I had a ton of people so excited. I want
to start by talking about you started following a lot
(04:42):
of your big, big goals when you were fairly young,
around the age of fifteen, when you became more visible
all while being homeless. Then you became the youngest staffer
on VP Harris's presidential campaign.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I want to know.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
When most people would have been in a survival mode
figuring out how to make it through, you stepped up
into the spotlight and you really started not only fighting
for your own rights but for other people.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
What was the thing that inspired you to do that?
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Instead of spiraling down the survival mode path.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Sure, politics is personal for people like me, and it's survival.
I was raised by a single mom in sex need
housing on snap benefits or food stamps, and we relied
on medicaids, free lunch kid in public schools. All of
that has to do with policy, has to do with elections,
and so I started standing up and demanding better for
my elected officials when I was fifteen years old because
(05:37):
the sex education I received at my school was last
update in the eighties, didn't mention consent, was medically inaccurate
and disadvantage to young people like me who didn't have
parents at home to fill in the gaps of a
sex education curriculum top by the baseball coach. I found
a sense of agency and taking action and demanding better
(05:58):
for my elected official important because it was necessary. Right.
It was my access to good information and sex education
that was on the line. And about a year later,
as I scaled up my work under the first Trump administration,
they had voted to defund plant parent centers right here
in Arizona, and I went toe to toe with Republicans
(06:19):
here in the state asking why they would deny me
the American dream right take away the birth control and
the funding for plant parented centers that was helping me
to be successful, reach for higher education, chase those big goals. Then,
because of advocates like the ones here in Arizona and
across the country who stood up to those Republicans, they
(06:40):
didn't stand a chance. I went on to be the
first of my family to go to college. I received
a full ride to Columbia University and was able to
pursue my education and across the stage as a first generation
college student. But that was because good policy. I know
good policy lifts people up, because I've lived it.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
One of the things that I hear and I feel
myself is that people feel really hopeless when it comes
to things like politics. I mean, I think right now
there are more people actively involved in politics than possibly
the history of America.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
What do you say to people that feel hopeless? Or
how do we start feeling more engaged?
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Like our voice matters, Like we can go out and
make change in a system that feel hopelessly broken.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I know things feel hopeless right now. It's part of
why I'm in this race. I've worked the behind the
scenes of campaigns. At nineteen years old, I was the
influencer in surrogate strategist on Kamala Harris's first presidential run.
I was a full time digital strategist out of her headquarters,
and in twenty twenty four, I worked in fart of
the camera. I was a content creator and a surrogate.
(07:46):
I traveled through Arizona and the Reproductive Freedom's bus tour.
I spoke at the Democratic National Convention the DNC. But
I had to ask myself a hard question when this
seat opened up, which was, how would I feel if
I sat the south? And can I and good faith
continue to ask people to get involved if I don't
give them someone to get excited about. And right now,
(08:07):
I hope that you have a candidate you can see
yourself in. And we are doing things differently because we
have to. Other people in our race have big money
in their corner. We're not taking corporate packs. Someone in
this race inherited the former congressman their father's donor list.
We're building from scratch right. I was raised by a
single mom who worked every odd job you could imagine,
(08:28):
cleaning houses, working at a post office, a caregiver for
the elderly. Some people in this race just have advantages
that people like us will never have, and so we're
doing things differently. Ninety eight percent of our donors are
small dollar donors, and I say that in quotes. It
mean under two hundred dollars. Other people in this race,
(08:48):
you know, those numbers are something like six percent or
fifty percent. I want folks to know that when it
comes to the way that we're running this campaign, your
share on Instagram makes it possible for us to reach
new people. Our debate clips have reached something like seven
million people, and that's not with's paid behind it. That's
with you all doing the work to share it to
(09:09):
your group chats and your stories, and it's turning into action.
In the last week since I stepped off the debate stage,
we've raised over one hundred thousand dollars six figures in
a special election primary in Arizona that is not supposed
to happen. And our average contribution is something like twenty
nine dollars. So that means that if you have thirty
(09:30):
dollars to spare, you could be one of our big
doglar donors. And I want to encourage you to get
in this fight with us. If you're feeling hopeless The
best anecdote is to get involved. If you have time,
get on a phone bait with us, join our discord.
If you have talent, show up, come help us photograph
an event or create a video recapping one of our
(09:50):
debate performances. If you have treasure, pitch in some extra
money and make this run possible.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
What I love about this is that, I mean, you're
essentially crowdsourcing right Like in the past, politics has been
very inaccessible because most people don't have the ability to
get access to those people or raise the funds they
need to raise. For twenty nine dollars, y'all, that's like
less than a dollar a day for a month, that's
(10:20):
really doable for most people. And you know, not only
for all of you listening right now to support Dasia,
but also maybe you want to run for office. If
someone had the big goal to run for office in
their state, what would you recommend maybe like one or
two small things that they could do to just get
(10:40):
the ball rolling for themselves.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Thank you for asking me that question. The first thing
you can do is start showing up in community. Find
a place that you want to volunteer regularly, show up
to those protests and introduce yourself to the organizers. You know,
if you're someone who practices religion, show up and be
in community. Make friends in your place of worship, because
(11:02):
those folks, those relationships, you need to build them before
you're ever gonna need them. And for the last decade,
I've been an activist fighting your better sex said, pushing
back on Republicans attempting to defund planned parented centers, even
being arrested on Capitol Hill after the overturn of Roe
versus Wade. And so I've been building my network and
it wasn't with the intention of running for office. It
(11:24):
was organic. So show up, be in community. That's the
first piece, because you're gonna need a lot of support,
whether that's people knocking doors or having good conversations about
you or pointing to the right direction. And the next
thing that I think you can do to prepare for
a run for office is get really real about what
it means to be an elected official and to run
a campaign. The truth of the matter is that it
(11:45):
is difficult by design for most young, working class people
to get involved. I'll give you an example out here
in Arizona, our school boards unpaid, our state legislature make
twenty four thousand dollars a year. It is difficult by design,
and it excludes working class people. Some of the questions
I had to ask before launching this run was will
(12:06):
I have enough support? Does my family and friends understand
what this will mean for all of our lives? And
do I have the finances, the personal finances to be
able to make this possible. Those are some of the
hard personal and logistics questions you're going to have to
ask before launching a run. And it shouldn't be that way,
but as it stands, we still need to do that
(12:26):
work to create a better pipeline for leaders that look
like the people they serve to get involved. Let's switch
gears a little bit.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
So much of having big goals and doing big things
in the world and standing up to corrupt systems and
fighting for change, it can take a toll. Sure, I've
been an entrepreneur for eighteen years. It's a lot. Talk
to me about what do you do to keep your
head in the game. What do you do when you
maybe get bad news and keep yourself from getting discouraged?
Speaker 2 (12:57):
What does that look like on a really personal level
for you. I'm twenty five years old, but I'm not
new to this. I've been doing this work for the
last decade. It organized under the first Trump administration. I've
worked campaigns, including twenty twenty and twenty twenty four, but
running my own campaign has been an entirely own experience.
It's different when it's your name at the top of
(13:17):
the ticket, and I wish that I could be everywhere
at once. I can. I cannot run a campaign alone,
not a winning campaign, and it takes asking for help
every single day. I have to ask volunteers to pitch
in their time and go knockdoors in one hundred degree weather.
I have to ask folks online to pitch in what
(13:38):
they can to fund this raise. I don't have deep
pockets or a fat donor with but I inherited. I
just have you all. And so getting really comfortable asking
for help and support and reminding myself that I am
offering people an opportunity to get involved, that this is
just as much their campaign as it is mine has
been really grounding. But I want to say that this
(14:00):
idea of self care has never quite resonated with me.
I really believe in community care, and I am seeing
it in big ways in this campaign. The ways that
by launching the campaign and putting my name out there,
putting my head up to lead, people have shown up
to support me. And at the very same time I
offer them something. I offer them hope, an opportunity to
(14:21):
get active and involved and feel a sense of agency
over this political system that feels far away most of
the time, and a chance to really make a difference.
I see that as a care that they offer me
and that I offer them, and it goes both ways.
And I'll be honest, there are some really hard days
on the campaign trails, especially going up against the establishment.
(14:45):
There are days where I see endorsements roll in that
feel really big and hard to overcome. There were days
where we raised very little money in the beginning, which
I'm sure you can relate to his entrepreneur right. This
is a startup of a campaign, and there were some
rocky days in the beginning. That is to be expected
when you're doing something new, when you're doing things differently,
and it's worth doing because it's hard, because it is
(15:07):
the thing that I would be proud to do no
matter what. And so what I'll close with is just
saying that I am in this race, not to be something,
but to do something, and I intend to win at
the ballot box. But every single day I rack up
with whether it's a canvasser who shows up to our
(15:29):
volunteer kickoff who's never volunteered for a political campaign before
but saw us on TikTok and sees a political home
in our work, or somebody who messages us on TikTok
that they're barely making rent this month, but they're going
to cash in their coin jar to be a part
of this fight. Or little girls whose moms stopped me
on the street and ask, will you tell my daughter
(15:50):
what you're doing. Every single day, our campaign is racking
up wins because we are in a fight that is
worth fighting, and of that I am so proud.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
I love that got me a little teary over here, Nisty.
You're also running, obviously like a very gorilla campaign. You
all have to be super scrappy about dollars and cents
and things like that. I obviously work with a lot
of entrepreneurs who are alike, well, I can't launch my
business until I have funding, or I can't get started
until I have.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
What are some ways that you have embraced this gorilla
marketing to do big things because you're making waves. You
shared some of the stats earlier. One hundred thousand dollars
in a week is a lot of money to bring
into a campaign, considering that the average amount is thirty dollars.
That's a lot of thirty dollars donations, right, We're a
(16:41):
lot of thirty helpserationship. You're getting the reach, you're getting
the visibility. People are listening to you. I look at
your comments on Instagram. You have people all over the
country who are rooting for you. What are some of
the ways that you have overcome this, like well, we
need a lot of money, or we need a large
donor list, any like strategies tactics that have been particularly helpful.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
The first thing is you get to start before you're ready.
I hate to tell you that, but you're just never
It's never going to be the perfect time. It's not.
And frankly, the states only get higher as you go along.
There will only be more reasons not to do it.
And somebody like me, I was forced to make a
choice really fast. This seat that I'm running for was
held for twenty two years I'm twenty five years old.
(17:23):
That's basically my lifetime, and it is not impossible that
this seat, the district that I live in, that whoever
might win it, these career politicians might hold it for
another two or three decades. And so sometimes the opportunity comes,
the moment is there, and you have to answer the call.
And I did. I hopped in and I gave it
(17:44):
a heartfelt yes. That's really the piece of advice that
I can give on a maybe less of a tactical level,
but that there is no right choice. The right choice
is the one you make wholeheartedly, and then you know.
I do want to offer people some practical supports, which
is that people have belittle me for my use of
Instagram and TikTok in this political space, labeled me an influencer,
(18:06):
called me unseerious. But dollars talk, and so do these numbers. Right,
these views are turning into dollars, turning into action. I
want folks to remember social media is just a new
space for connecting with people. Lead with your story, be
a good storyteller, Focus on and the right people will come.
We get so caught up in the algorithm and performance
(18:30):
and numbers but really, this is how I think about
each video. It's an opportunity to talk directly to people.
What do I want that one person to hear. Don't
think about talking to millions of people. Think about talking
to your person. I think about talking to my voter,
my donor. Right, My donor has that twenty nine dollars
in their pocket, and that's it, and that's who I'm
(18:51):
talking to. My voter lives here and maybe has felt
left out of this process. So get really specific on
your audience and who you are to them. And in
each and every video, remember that it's a personal relationship.
And don't let anybody tell you that it's not important,
or that it's not really talking to people, or that
it's cringe, because it's a new way of communicating and frankly,
(19:12):
it's where people are building their political opinions and making
their shopping decision. Stays Yep.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
If you're listening to this and thinking I wish I
had more people in my life who just get it,
you're not alone. Big goal energy women are rare. We're
the ones dreaming big, defying norms and refusing to settle.
And that is exactly why I created a Big Goal
Energy app. But it's more than just an app. It's
a community, a safe, supportive space where ambitious women like
(19:44):
you and me can gather, grow, and go after our
biggest goals without judgment. Inside you'll find real time conversations,
powerful tools and resources, and exclusive content you won't get
anywhere else, and yes, direct access to me to support
you on your journey. Whether you're building, dreaming, shifting, or scaling,
(20:05):
you don't have to do it alone. Come join us
inside the Big Ol Energy app and surround yourself with
women who dream as Delulu as you do. Download the
app now or visit bre sealy dot com slash community
to learn more. Do you know what the average turnout
(20:27):
is in Arizona for a special election?
Speaker 2 (20:31):
This district has been held for twenty two years. We
haven't seen a competitive congressional in basically my lifetime, and
so it's very difficult to know what the turnout could be.
We have a district of something like eight hundred thousand people,
and it's not unlikely that the total voters in this
election will come out to something like sixty or sixty
five thousand people. But we are doing the hard work
(20:53):
to get that number up to turn people out otherwise
would have set this election out had not even known
it was happening. And so we are changing the dynamic
of this race just by being in it and getting
people otherwise would have been left out excited. And that
is the hard work and the long term work of
this party and this democracy.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
If someone is in your district, what can they do
talk to us about like the dates of the election
and what's coming up, and then what do you need?
Speaker 2 (21:20):
This special election here in Southern Arizona is the first
referendum on twenty twenty four Did we learn our lessons?
Are we going to stand up or are we gonna
back down? And it has implications for people all across
the country because what we do in this election here
in Southern Arizona will determine who is recruited, endorsed, and
(21:42):
funded all across the country in the twenty twenty six
mid terms. And so this fight is not just for
the constituents here in Southern Arizona. It has implications for
each and every one of you listening. I'm asking you
to get in this fight with us. I would love
for you to follow along with love at Deja Fox, Instagram,
TikTok Facebook, We're launching Blue Sky today or tomorrow, and
(22:05):
follow along with the actions you can take right whether
that's coming out and knocking doors with us, putting up
a yard sign, it makes a huge difference. But folks
that aren't in southern Arizona, you have an opportunity to
get involved too, whether that's pitching in to make us
run possible, joining our discord, and phone banking and text
banking with us to make those direct voter contacts here
(22:27):
in districts that are kind of make the difference. And
I want you to know that each and every one
of those conversations in a race that could be decided
by just a few hundred voters, I said Bristain District,
maybe just sixty to sixty five thousand people turning out
with multiple people in a priory, that makes sure wind
number really small and it makes the margin of victory
(22:48):
even smaller. And so I want folks to know that
each and every conversation matters. Each week, we knock hundreds
of doors and those could be the ones that make
the difference. So if you're out of state, I'd love
for you to join our discord and find a way
to volunteer virtually love, love love.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
If someone is listening and they have usually a big
goal that either they're intimidated by or someone in their
life has told them might be impossible or delusional. After
the last ten years of doing the work you've done
in the world and chasing your big goals, really going
for it before you were ready, do you have any
(23:26):
advice or thoughts or tips for.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Someone who might be in that position. I've been a
young woman of color in politics, but the last ten years,
at this rate, with the median age of something like Congress,
I might be a young woman in politics for the
next twenty years if we're being audience. That being said,
I'm used to being underestimated, and there were people who
told me to sit this race out, that it wasn't
(23:51):
my turn, that I couldn't do it, and I had
to have the faith and the vision to know that
I could, that it was possible, and that if I'd
built it, people would come and they have. I think
about some of the lessons I took away from the
first presidential campaign I worked on. I sat underneath a
sign that said fearless, and I think that's what you
(24:12):
have to be when you're doing something big. You've got
to be fearless, and you got to know that if
you have vision and you're willing to commit with a
wholehearted yes, that even when other people can't see it,
you just got to work to make it happen and
prove what is possible. Frankly, if people all thought I
could do it, it wouldn't be worth the doing. It's
(24:33):
a good sign that you're doing something worth doing. If
people aren't sure or doubt that it's possible.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Well, in this, I mean, that's really truly the creative process.
You have something within you that only you can see
because you have to bring it from that heartfelt soul
vision into a vision that can be seen with our eyesight.
And I think that far too many of us are
conditioned to rely on what our eyesight see rather than
(25:00):
what our heart sees. And it's really important to differentiate.
What I heard you just say is that heart vision
needs to hold equal I would say, if not more
weight than the eyesight vision.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
And frankly, you know, when we're talking about politics, it's
all about heart. People vote with their hearts. It's about feeling.
And you nailed it earlier when you said that the
feeling in our party across this country right now is hopelessness.
And I knew that I had an anecdote to that
that I had something I could offer people, a candidacy
(25:35):
that I could offer people to make them feel a
little less hopeless. If you're feeling it, it's not impossible
that other people are feeling it too. And I'm not immune.
I'm not separate from everyone else. I thought hopeless after
the twenty twenty four election too. I joke with people
that for me was either crash out or congress. It
was one or the other. And I decided to step
up and lead to run because I needed to give
(25:56):
people something that they could put their help. Lot Yeah
love that well.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Data has already shared her social following, but you share
them again and then where can people either donate to
or is there like a sign up where people can
get involved?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So at dajafox dot com you can find everything you
need to be a part of this campaign, whether that's
reading our story, looking into where we stand on the issues,
or pitching in. You can even sign up to volunteer
virtually or on the ground in our get involved sections.
So I hope you'll visit us at dajavots dot com.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
If people are voting, when is the election slash?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
When are the mail in ballots? Let's do so. This
is a really great question and a little bit of
voter education for everyone across the country, which is that
this is a special election, which means it's on its
own specific timeline. It's buried in the middle of summer
here in Arizona. And the reason we're in this situation
is because my number of Congress passed away. That being said,
(26:59):
we have our own dates. June eighteenth early ballots draw
That means you'll start seeing it in your mailbox, and
we sort of marked that as the beginning of the election.
July fifteenth is election day, that's the one you'll hear
everyone talking about. But as an organizer, we think about
that as the last day of the election. So you
(27:19):
can keep an eye out for ballots in your mailbox
as soon as June eighteenth, and we ask you to
vote by July fifteenth.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
And you mentioned earlier, just as a little bit of
education as well, this is a primary, so this is
to determine the candidate and then there's another election.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, so we're running the special election primary. This is
one of the safer and bluer districts here in Arizona,
which means that the primary is in essence the election.
Whoever we select as the Democratic nominee to run against
the Republican in the general is more than likely to
wigh and we're gonna work hard at it regardless. But
(28:00):
that general election is in September, but we're running in
a primary against other Democrats. And the question that people
have to answer is who are we as a party?
Where do we want our country to go? And who's
going to be the next generation of leaders?
Speaker 1 (28:16):
And so you, as the answer to those three questions,
would you break that down? If people are voting for you,
what does that mean in terms of who we are
as a party and those other questions You just asked.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
A vote for me, whether with your dollar if you
don't live in this district, or with your ballot if
you do, sends a signal to our party and our
country that young progressive disruptors are whares, that we want
a different way of doing things, that the way things
have always been done isn't working, and we're ready to
(28:49):
do things differently. And what that means for our party
in our country is electing someone who will build our
bench of leadership. The Democrats are presently in a deficit
of leadership and good messengers. The right is running circles
around us on the internet, on TikTok and and the
far corners of the internet and new media spaces, and
(29:10):
it's because we have failed to elect leaders who know
how to communicate with voters online voting for somebody like me.
Bringing someone like me into this party into leadership is
an opportunity to do things differently. Talk to the voters
we've left behind, young people, working class folks, and we
have a track record of doing that. We have accumulated
(29:32):
millions of views in a special election primary in the
middle of summer in Arizona, and that's just not supposed
to happen. But it's good storytelling and solid strategy. And
so if you want a different way of doing things
and asking you to elect somebody with advocacy experience, and
if you want to see a change in our party,
it means bringing in newer and younger voices who aren't
(29:54):
afraid to compete in the digital space. I relocated to
a red state in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Was not in the life plan, not even close also
moving back to Midwest. Not in the life plan either,
but I did. And I will say one of the
things that drives me the most crazy in living in
an area like this if the mentality of well, this
is how we do things here, zude and it's like
(30:23):
a cheese grater on my skin. It just makes me
so angry because my question is always, but what if
it's not.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
The best way to do it?
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Just because it's something we've done in the past doesn't
mean that it's something we need to continue in the future.
And I love that there are more progressive, younger representative candidate.
There was a candidate here in Oklahoma that I worked
on her campaign a little bit because she was.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
That as well.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
And I'm excited by the idea that there is possibility,
that there is hope, that there is change on the horizon,
and that we don't have to keep repeating all of
the same bs that has happened in our country for
hundreds of years.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
A different way of doing things is possible, and in
real time right now, we are proving it. If people
get in our corner, that's what makes it possible to
prove point that we can elect newer and younger leaders.
There's a different way of doing things. We don't need
corporate packs or establishment endorsements. We can decide elections. We
(31:24):
have new tools available to us, and it's exciting and
it really does speak to the fact that the way
that things have always been done isn't working for most
of us. I'm proud to be able to give people
a different way to do things.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Thank you for your time today, thank you for your voice,
thank you for fighting for people that historically haven't been
fought for in a really beautiful way. And I will
be feet on the ground in Prescott, Arizona for three weeks,
so I will be sending all of the good energy
and all of the vibes while I'm there, and again,
(32:00):
unfortunately can't vote, but we'll be doing my part. I
have one last request for the listeners, and that is
if you feel inspired by Deja, by her story, by
her courage to go out and do big things in
the world. Few things one obviously, go volunteer with her
campaign and donate. Two, please share this episode with someone
(32:22):
else who needs to hear it. If you know someone
who lives in dasa's district, please share this episode with them.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
And three, If you.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Have a young woman in your life who's maybe I
don't know, around the age of fifteen ish and she
needs the motivation or someone to look up to who's
doing big things in the world, please give them this episode.
I think I only swore once, and I'm very sorry
if I did. I've been trying not to swear because
I would love for young women, especially young young girls,
(32:53):
to listen to this episode and know but there's something
they can do if they don't feel like they're represented
right now. Well, so please share this episode and last,
but at least, please everyone help me think Beata. Thank
you for joining me today. I appreciate it so much.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Thank you for having me. I appreciate your thoughtful questions.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
If this episode lit something up and you share it,
text it to a friend, post it to your stories,
or leave a review. Because Big Goal Energy is meant
to be felt far and wide, and if you're ready
to go deeper, explore the tools, hypnosis, sessions, and support.
Because your vision deserves more than hustle. Join us on
the Big Goal Energy app by visiting your app store
(33:35):
and typing in Big Goal Energy. Your vision your goals
deserve alignment, ease, and your fullest self behind them. Until
next time, trust yourself, dream bigger, and never forget you
are here for greatness.
Hello everyone, and welcome to Big Goal Energy. I'm your hostess,
Brisia Lee, and we are coming to today with actually
a very special episode. You may notice, if you are
a regular listener, that this is being released on a Thursday,
in addition to the episode that was already released on Tuesday.
I knew that I needed to interview Deja Fox the
(00:24):
second I heard her speak, and I've been following her
online for a while. Her most recent debate really struck
a chord in me. I started learning more about her.
I learned that she was also raised by a single mom,
(00:44):
that her mom also relied on benefits, food assistants, things
like that, And I knew that coming from a circumstance
like that and still pursuing your big Goal energy, still
going out there and doing big things in the world
despite the need to survive, is incredible. So I wanted
(01:10):
to get her on the podcast and ask her some
of these questions, which you will be hearing in the
coming episode. But let me tell you a little bit
more about her in case you are not yet familiar
with her, and then we will dive into the interview.
Dejah Fox was raised by a single mom in Tucson, Arizona.
As a free lunch kid in public schools, her family
(01:31):
relied on SNAP benefits, Section eight housing, and Medicaid to
make ends meet. Having experienced homelessness because of her mother's
struggles with substance abuse, she balanced high school classes with
long nights working at a gas station. Deja found her
first fight advocating for better sex education in Tucson schools,
(01:51):
where she organized a campaign of student storytellers, delivering a
win for tens of thousands of students who until then
had been when learning a curriculum last updated in the
nineteen eighties. She later went viral for confronting then Senator
Jeff Flake after he voted to strip her and millions
of other women of their access to essential birth control funding.
(02:14):
After graduating from Columbia University as the first in her
family to receive a college degree, Deja moved back to
Tucson to continue the fight for women, youth, and underserved
communities in the heart of southern Arizona. On April second,
twenty twenty five, Deja announced her candidacy to become the
first jen Z woman elected to Congress, running in the
(02:37):
open seat in Arizona's seventh congressional district. You can learn
more and support Deja by visiting her campaign website at
dejafox dot com. That's dee jafoxx dot com. Please enjoy
this episode and if it moves you in any way
spoiler alert, I get tearied at one point in this converse.
(03:00):
If it moves you in any way, please please please
forward it onto a friend and share it with a
young woman in your life, a young girl in your life,
and let's ignite some big goal energy in the next generation.
You were never meant for a small life. You have
bold ideas, audacious dreams, and visions that keep you up
(03:24):
at night. But the truth is big goals don't come
with step by step instructions, and success doesn't come from
doing more. It comes from becoming more. Welcome to Big
Goal Energy a podcast for high achieving women who are
done shrinking, striving, and second guessing and are ready to
defy reality in pursuit of the life they actually want.
(03:46):
I'm your hostess, free Sealy, goal architect, subconscious strategist and
your permission slip to want what you want. Join me
as we go beyond the service level success to explore
the mindset identity and inner work wired to bring your biggest,
most delulu goals to life. This is your space to
be seen, to be expanded, and to remember that you
(04:07):
are not alone on this journey. Let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Please help me give a big goal. Welcome to Deja Fox. Hello, Hello,
thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I am so so grateful and excited that you're here.
As I mentioned in the opening, I've been kind of
a watching I'm unfortunately not able to vote for you,
but I've been watching your campaign from afar. When I
announced on Instagram Story that I would be interviewing you,
I had a ton of people so excited. I want
to start by talking about you started following a lot
(04:42):
of your big, big goals when you were fairly young,
around the age of fifteen, when you became more visible
all while being homeless. Then you became the youngest staffer
on VP Harris's presidential campaign.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I want to know.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
When most people would have been in a survival mode
figuring out how to make it through, you stepped up
into the spotlight and you really started not only fighting
for your own rights but for other people.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
What was the thing that inspired you to do that?
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Instead of spiraling down the survival mode path.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Sure, politics is personal for people like me, and it's survival.
I was raised by a single mom in sex need
housing on snap benefits or food stamps, and we relied
on medicaids, free lunch kid in public schools. All of
that has to do with policy, has to do with elections,
and so I started standing up and demanding better for
my elected officials when I was fifteen years old because
(05:37):
the sex education I received at my school was last
update in the eighties, didn't mention consent, was medically inaccurate
and disadvantage to young people like me who didn't have
parents at home to fill in the gaps of a
sex education curriculum top by the baseball coach. I found
a sense of agency and taking action and demanding better
(05:58):
for my elected official important because it was necessary. Right.
It was my access to good information and sex education
that was on the line. And about a year later,
as I scaled up my work under the first Trump administration,
they had voted to defund plant parent centers right here
in Arizona, and I went toe to toe with Republicans
(06:19):
here in the state asking why they would deny me
the American dream right take away the birth control and
the funding for plant parented centers that was helping me
to be successful, reach for higher education, chase those big goals. Then,
because of advocates like the ones here in Arizona and
across the country who stood up to those Republicans, they
(06:40):
didn't stand a chance. I went on to be the
first of my family to go to college. I received
a full ride to Columbia University and was able to
pursue my education and across the stage as a first generation
college student. But that was because good policy. I know
good policy lifts people up, because I've lived it.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
One of the things that I hear and I feel
myself is that people feel really hopeless when it comes
to things like politics. I mean, I think right now
there are more people actively involved in politics than possibly
the history of America.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
What do you say to people that feel hopeless? Or
how do we start feeling more engaged?
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Like our voice matters, Like we can go out and
make change in a system that feel hopelessly broken.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I know things feel hopeless right now. It's part of
why I'm in this race. I've worked the behind the
scenes of campaigns. At nineteen years old, I was the
influencer in surrogate strategist on Kamala Harris's first presidential run.
I was a full time digital strategist out of her headquarters,
and in twenty twenty four, I worked in fart of
the camera. I was a content creator and a surrogate.
(07:46):
I traveled through Arizona and the Reproductive Freedom's bus tour.
I spoke at the Democratic National Convention the DNC. But
I had to ask myself a hard question when this
seat opened up, which was, how would I feel if
I sat the south? And can I and good faith
continue to ask people to get involved if I don't
give them someone to get excited about. And right now,
(08:07):
I hope that you have a candidate you can see
yourself in. And we are doing things differently because we
have to. Other people in our race have big money
in their corner. We're not taking corporate packs. Someone in
this race inherited the former congressman their father's donor list.
We're building from scratch right. I was raised by a
single mom who worked every odd job you could imagine,
(08:28):
cleaning houses, working at a post office, a caregiver for
the elderly. Some people in this race just have advantages
that people like us will never have, and so we're
doing things differently. Ninety eight percent of our donors are
small dollar donors, and I say that in quotes. It
mean under two hundred dollars. Other people in this race,
(08:48):
you know, those numbers are something like six percent or
fifty percent. I want folks to know that when it
comes to the way that we're running this campaign, your
share on Instagram makes it possible for us to reach
new people. Our debate clips have reached something like seven
million people, and that's not with's paid behind it. That's
with you all doing the work to share it to
(09:09):
your group chats and your stories, and it's turning into action.
In the last week since I stepped off the debate stage,
we've raised over one hundred thousand dollars six figures in
a special election primary in Arizona that is not supposed
to happen. And our average contribution is something like twenty
nine dollars. So that means that if you have thirty
(09:30):
dollars to spare, you could be one of our big
doglar donors. And I want to encourage you to get
in this fight with us. If you're feeling hopeless The
best anecdote is to get involved. If you have time,
get on a phone bait with us, join our discord.
If you have talent, show up, come help us photograph
an event or create a video recapping one of our
(09:50):
debate performances. If you have treasure, pitch in some extra
money and make this run possible.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
What I love about this is that, I mean, you're
essentially crowdsourcing right Like in the past, politics has been
very inaccessible because most people don't have the ability to
get access to those people or raise the funds they
need to raise. For twenty nine dollars, y'all, that's like
less than a dollar a day for a month, that's
(10:20):
really doable for most people. And you know, not only
for all of you listening right now to support Dasia,
but also maybe you want to run for office. If
someone had the big goal to run for office in
their state, what would you recommend maybe like one or
two small things that they could do to just get
(10:40):
the ball rolling for themselves.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Thank you for asking me that question. The first thing
you can do is start showing up in community. Find
a place that you want to volunteer regularly, show up
to those protests and introduce yourself to the organizers. You know,
if you're someone who practices religion, show up and be
in community. Make friends in your place of worship, because
(11:02):
those folks, those relationships, you need to build them before
you're ever gonna need them. And for the last decade,
I've been an activist fighting your better sex said, pushing
back on Republicans attempting to defund planned parented centers, even
being arrested on Capitol Hill after the overturn of Roe
versus Wade. And so I've been building my network and
it wasn't with the intention of running for office. It
(11:24):
was organic. So show up, be in community. That's the
first piece, because you're gonna need a lot of support,
whether that's people knocking doors or having good conversations about
you or pointing to the right direction. And the next
thing that I think you can do to prepare for
a run for office is get really real about what
it means to be an elected official and to run
a campaign. The truth of the matter is that it
(11:45):
is difficult by design for most young, working class people
to get involved. I'll give you an example out here
in Arizona, our school boards unpaid, our state legislature make
twenty four thousand dollars a year. It is difficult by design,
and it excludes working class people. Some of the questions
I had to ask before launching this run was will
(12:06):
I have enough support? Does my family and friends understand
what this will mean for all of our lives? And
do I have the finances, the personal finances to be
able to make this possible. Those are some of the
hard personal and logistics questions you're going to have to
ask before launching a run. And it shouldn't be that way,
but as it stands, we still need to do that
(12:26):
work to create a better pipeline for leaders that look
like the people they serve to get involved. Let's switch
gears a little bit.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
So much of having big goals and doing big things
in the world and standing up to corrupt systems and
fighting for change, it can take a toll. Sure, I've
been an entrepreneur for eighteen years. It's a lot. Talk
to me about what do you do to keep your
head in the game. What do you do when you
maybe get bad news and keep yourself from getting discouraged?
Speaker 2 (12:57):
What does that look like on a really personal level
for you. I'm twenty five years old, but I'm not
new to this. I've been doing this work for the
last decade. It organized under the first Trump administration. I've
worked campaigns, including twenty twenty and twenty twenty four, but
running my own campaign has been an entirely own experience.
It's different when it's your name at the top of
(13:17):
the ticket, and I wish that I could be everywhere
at once. I can. I cannot run a campaign alone,
not a winning campaign, and it takes asking for help
every single day. I have to ask volunteers to pitch
in their time and go knockdoors in one hundred degree weather.
I have to ask folks online to pitch in what
(13:38):
they can to fund this raise. I don't have deep
pockets or a fat donor with but I inherited. I
just have you all. And so getting really comfortable asking
for help and support and reminding myself that I am
offering people an opportunity to get involved, that this is
just as much their campaign as it is mine has
been really grounding. But I want to say that this
(14:00):
idea of self care has never quite resonated with me.
I really believe in community care, and I am seeing
it in big ways in this campaign. The ways that
by launching the campaign and putting my name out there,
putting my head up to lead, people have shown up
to support me. And at the very same time I
offer them something. I offer them hope, an opportunity to
(14:21):
get active and involved and feel a sense of agency
over this political system that feels far away most of
the time, and a chance to really make a difference.
I see that as a care that they offer me
and that I offer them, and it goes both ways.
And I'll be honest, there are some really hard days
on the campaign trails, especially going up against the establishment.
(14:45):
There are days where I see endorsements roll in that
feel really big and hard to overcome. There were days
where we raised very little money in the beginning, which
I'm sure you can relate to his entrepreneur right. This
is a startup of a campaign, and there were some
rocky days in the beginning. That is to be expected
when you're doing something new, when you're doing things differently,
and it's worth doing because it's hard, because it is
(15:07):
the thing that I would be proud to do no
matter what. And so what I'll close with is just
saying that I am in this race, not to be something,
but to do something, and I intend to win at
the ballot box. But every single day I rack up
with whether it's a canvasser who shows up to our
(15:29):
volunteer kickoff who's never volunteered for a political campaign before
but saw us on TikTok and sees a political home
in our work, or somebody who messages us on TikTok
that they're barely making rent this month, but they're going
to cash in their coin jar to be a part
of this fight. Or little girls whose moms stopped me
on the street and ask, will you tell my daughter
(15:50):
what you're doing. Every single day, our campaign is racking
up wins because we are in a fight that is
worth fighting, and of that I am so proud.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
I love that got me a little teary over here, Nisty.
You're also running, obviously like a very gorilla campaign. You
all have to be super scrappy about dollars and cents
and things like that. I obviously work with a lot
of entrepreneurs who are alike, well, I can't launch my
business until I have funding, or I can't get started
until I have.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
What are some ways that you have embraced this gorilla
marketing to do big things because you're making waves. You
shared some of the stats earlier. One hundred thousand dollars
in a week is a lot of money to bring
into a campaign, considering that the average amount is thirty dollars.
That's a lot of thirty dollars donations, right, We're a
(16:41):
lot of thirty helpserationship. You're getting the reach, you're getting
the visibility. People are listening to you. I look at
your comments on Instagram. You have people all over the
country who are rooting for you. What are some of
the ways that you have overcome this, like well, we
need a lot of money, or we need a large
donor list, any like strategies tactics that have been particularly helpful.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
The first thing is you get to start before you're ready.
I hate to tell you that, but you're just never
It's never going to be the perfect time. It's not.
And frankly, the states only get higher as you go along.
There will only be more reasons not to do it.
And somebody like me, I was forced to make a
choice really fast. This seat that I'm running for was
held for twenty two years I'm twenty five years old.
(17:23):
That's basically my lifetime, and it is not impossible that
this seat, the district that I live in, that whoever
might win it, these career politicians might hold it for
another two or three decades. And so sometimes the opportunity comes,
the moment is there, and you have to answer the call.
And I did. I hopped in and I gave it
(17:44):
a heartfelt yes. That's really the piece of advice that
I can give on a maybe less of a tactical level,
but that there is no right choice. The right choice
is the one you make wholeheartedly, and then you know.
I do want to offer people some practical supports, which
is that people have belittle me for my use of
Instagram and TikTok in this political space, labeled me an influencer,
(18:06):
called me unseerious. But dollars talk, and so do these numbers. Right,
these views are turning into dollars, turning into action. I
want folks to remember social media is just a new
space for connecting with people. Lead with your story, be
a good storyteller, Focus on and the right people will come.
We get so caught up in the algorithm and performance
(18:30):
and numbers but really, this is how I think about
each video. It's an opportunity to talk directly to people.
What do I want that one person to hear. Don't
think about talking to millions of people. Think about talking
to your person. I think about talking to my voter,
my donor. Right, My donor has that twenty nine dollars
in their pocket, and that's it, and that's who I'm
(18:51):
talking to. My voter lives here and maybe has felt
left out of this process. So get really specific on
your audience and who you are to them. And in
each and every video, remember that it's a personal relationship.
And don't let anybody tell you that it's not important,
or that it's not really talking to people, or that
it's cringe, because it's a new way of communicating and frankly,
(19:12):
it's where people are building their political opinions and making
their shopping decision. Stays Yep.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
If you're listening to this and thinking I wish I
had more people in my life who just get it,
you're not alone. Big goal energy women are rare. We're
the ones dreaming big, defying norms and refusing to settle.
And that is exactly why I created a Big Goal
Energy app. But it's more than just an app. It's
a community, a safe, supportive space where ambitious women like
(19:44):
you and me can gather, grow, and go after our
biggest goals without judgment. Inside you'll find real time conversations,
powerful tools and resources, and exclusive content you won't get
anywhere else, and yes, direct access to me to support
you on your journey. Whether you're building, dreaming, shifting, or scaling,
(20:05):
you don't have to do it alone. Come join us
inside the Big Ol Energy app and surround yourself with
women who dream as Delulu as you do. Download the
app now or visit bre sealy dot com slash community
to learn more. Do you know what the average turnout
(20:27):
is in Arizona for a special election?
Speaker 2 (20:31):
This district has been held for twenty two years. We
haven't seen a competitive congressional in basically my lifetime, and
so it's very difficult to know what the turnout could be.
We have a district of something like eight hundred thousand people,
and it's not unlikely that the total voters in this
election will come out to something like sixty or sixty
five thousand people. But we are doing the hard work
(20:53):
to get that number up to turn people out otherwise
would have set this election out had not even known
it was happening. And so we are changing the dynamic
of this race just by being in it and getting
people otherwise would have been left out excited. And that
is the hard work and the long term work of
this party and this democracy.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
If someone is in your district, what can they do
talk to us about like the dates of the election
and what's coming up, and then what do you need?
Speaker 2 (21:20):
This special election here in Southern Arizona is the first
referendum on twenty twenty four Did we learn our lessons?
Are we going to stand up or are we gonna
back down? And it has implications for people all across
the country because what we do in this election here
in Southern Arizona will determine who is recruited, endorsed, and
(21:42):
funded all across the country in the twenty twenty six
mid terms. And so this fight is not just for
the constituents here in Southern Arizona. It has implications for
each and every one of you listening. I'm asking you
to get in this fight with us. I would love
for you to follow along with love at Deja Fox, Instagram,
TikTok Facebook, We're launching Blue Sky today or tomorrow, and
(22:05):
follow along with the actions you can take right whether
that's coming out and knocking doors with us, putting up
a yard sign, it makes a huge difference. But folks
that aren't in southern Arizona, you have an opportunity to
get involved too, whether that's pitching in to make us
run possible, joining our discord, and phone banking and text
banking with us to make those direct voter contacts here
(22:27):
in districts that are kind of make the difference. And
I want you to know that each and every one
of those conversations in a race that could be decided
by just a few hundred voters, I said Bristain District,
maybe just sixty to sixty five thousand people turning out
with multiple people in a priory, that makes sure wind
number really small and it makes the margin of victory
(22:48):
even smaller. And so I want folks to know that
each and every conversation matters. Each week, we knock hundreds
of doors and those could be the ones that make
the difference. So if you're out of state, I'd love
for you to join our discord and find a way
to volunteer virtually love, love love.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
If someone is listening and they have usually a big
goal that either they're intimidated by or someone in their
life has told them might be impossible or delusional. After
the last ten years of doing the work you've done
in the world and chasing your big goals, really going
for it before you were ready, do you have any
(23:26):
advice or thoughts or tips for.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Someone who might be in that position. I've been a
young woman of color in politics, but the last ten years,
at this rate, with the median age of something like Congress,
I might be a young woman in politics for the
next twenty years if we're being audience. That being said,
I'm used to being underestimated, and there were people who
told me to sit this race out, that it wasn't
(23:51):
my turn, that I couldn't do it, and I had
to have the faith and the vision to know that
I could, that it was possible, and that if I'd
built it, people would come and they have. I think
about some of the lessons I took away from the
first presidential campaign I worked on. I sat underneath a
sign that said fearless, and I think that's what you
(24:12):
have to be when you're doing something big. You've got
to be fearless, and you got to know that if
you have vision and you're willing to commit with a
wholehearted yes, that even when other people can't see it,
you just got to work to make it happen and
prove what is possible. Frankly, if people all thought I
could do it, it wouldn't be worth the doing. It's
(24:33):
a good sign that you're doing something worth doing. If
people aren't sure or doubt that it's possible.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Well, in this, I mean, that's really truly the creative process.
You have something within you that only you can see
because you have to bring it from that heartfelt soul
vision into a vision that can be seen with our eyesight.
And I think that far too many of us are
conditioned to rely on what our eyesight see rather than
(25:00):
what our heart sees. And it's really important to differentiate.
What I heard you just say is that heart vision
needs to hold equal I would say, if not more
weight than the eyesight vision.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
And frankly, you know, when we're talking about politics, it's
all about heart. People vote with their hearts. It's about feeling.
And you nailed it earlier when you said that the
feeling in our party across this country right now is hopelessness.
And I knew that I had an anecdote to that
that I had something I could offer people, a candidacy
(25:35):
that I could offer people to make them feel a
little less hopeless. If you're feeling it, it's not impossible
that other people are feeling it too. And I'm not immune.
I'm not separate from everyone else. I thought hopeless after
the twenty twenty four election too. I joke with people
that for me was either crash out or congress. It
was one or the other. And I decided to step
up and lead to run because I needed to give
(25:56):
people something that they could put their help. Lot Yeah
love that well.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Data has already shared her social following, but you share
them again and then where can people either donate to
or is there like a sign up where people can
get involved?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So at dajafox dot com you can find everything you
need to be a part of this campaign, whether that's
reading our story, looking into where we stand on the issues,
or pitching in. You can even sign up to volunteer
virtually or on the ground in our get involved sections.
So I hope you'll visit us at dajavots dot com.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
If people are voting, when is the election slash?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
When are the mail in ballots? Let's do so. This
is a really great question and a little bit of
voter education for everyone across the country, which is that
this is a special election, which means it's on its
own specific timeline. It's buried in the middle of summer
here in Arizona. And the reason we're in this situation
is because my number of Congress passed away. That being said,
(26:59):
we have our own dates. June eighteenth early ballots draw
That means you'll start seeing it in your mailbox, and
we sort of marked that as the beginning of the election.
July fifteenth is election day, that's the one you'll hear
everyone talking about. But as an organizer, we think about
that as the last day of the election. So you
(27:19):
can keep an eye out for ballots in your mailbox
as soon as June eighteenth, and we ask you to
vote by July fifteenth.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
And you mentioned earlier, just as a little bit of
education as well, this is a primary, so this is
to determine the candidate and then there's another election.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, so we're running the special election primary. This is
one of the safer and bluer districts here in Arizona,
which means that the primary is in essence the election.
Whoever we select as the Democratic nominee to run against
the Republican in the general is more than likely to
wigh and we're gonna work hard at it regardless. But
(28:00):
that general election is in September, but we're running in
a primary against other Democrats. And the question that people
have to answer is who are we as a party?
Where do we want our country to go? And who's
going to be the next generation of leaders?
Speaker 1 (28:16):
And so you, as the answer to those three questions,
would you break that down? If people are voting for you,
what does that mean in terms of who we are
as a party and those other questions You just asked.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
A vote for me, whether with your dollar if you
don't live in this district, or with your ballot if
you do, sends a signal to our party and our
country that young progressive disruptors are whares, that we want
a different way of doing things, that the way things
have always been done isn't working, and we're ready to
(28:49):
do things differently. And what that means for our party
in our country is electing someone who will build our
bench of leadership. The Democrats are presently in a deficit
of leadership and good messengers. The right is running circles
around us on the internet, on TikTok and and the
far corners of the internet and new media spaces, and
(29:10):
it's because we have failed to elect leaders who know
how to communicate with voters online voting for somebody like me.
Bringing someone like me into this party into leadership is
an opportunity to do things differently. Talk to the voters
we've left behind, young people, working class folks, and we
have a track record of doing that. We have accumulated
(29:32):
millions of views in a special election primary in the
middle of summer in Arizona, and that's just not supposed
to happen. But it's good storytelling and solid strategy. And
so if you want a different way of doing things
and asking you to elect somebody with advocacy experience, and
if you want to see a change in our party,
it means bringing in newer and younger voices who aren't
(29:54):
afraid to compete in the digital space. I relocated to
a red state in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Was not in the life plan, not even close also
moving back to Midwest. Not in the life plan either,
but I did. And I will say one of the
things that drives me the most crazy in living in
an area like this if the mentality of well, this
is how we do things here, zude and it's like
(30:23):
a cheese grater on my skin. It just makes me
so angry because my question is always, but what if
it's not.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
The best way to do it?
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Just because it's something we've done in the past doesn't
mean that it's something we need to continue in the future.
And I love that there are more progressive, younger representative candidate.
There was a candidate here in Oklahoma that I worked
on her campaign a little bit because she was.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
That as well.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
And I'm excited by the idea that there is possibility,
that there is hope, that there is change on the horizon,
and that we don't have to keep repeating all of
the same bs that has happened in our country for
hundreds of years.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
A different way of doing things is possible, and in
real time right now, we are proving it. If people
get in our corner, that's what makes it possible to
prove point that we can elect newer and younger leaders.
There's a different way of doing things. We don't need
corporate packs or establishment endorsements. We can decide elections. We
(31:24):
have new tools available to us, and it's exciting and
it really does speak to the fact that the way
that things have always been done isn't working for most
of us. I'm proud to be able to give people
a different way to do things.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Thank you for your time today, thank you for your voice,
thank you for fighting for people that historically haven't been
fought for in a really beautiful way. And I will
be feet on the ground in Prescott, Arizona for three weeks,
so I will be sending all of the good energy
and all of the vibes while I'm there, and again,
(32:00):
unfortunately can't vote, but we'll be doing my part. I
have one last request for the listeners, and that is
if you feel inspired by Deja, by her story, by
her courage to go out and do big things in
the world. Few things one obviously, go volunteer with her
campaign and donate. Two, please share this episode with someone
(32:22):
else who needs to hear it. If you know someone
who lives in dasa's district, please share this episode with them.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
And three, If you.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Have a young woman in your life who's maybe I
don't know, around the age of fifteen ish and she
needs the motivation or someone to look up to who's
doing big things in the world, please give them this episode.
I think I only swore once, and I'm very sorry
if I did. I've been trying not to swear because
I would love for young women, especially young young girls,
(32:53):
to listen to this episode and know but there's something
they can do if they don't feel like they're represented
right now. Well, so please share this episode and last,
but at least, please everyone help me think Beata. Thank
you for joining me today. I appreciate it so much.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Thank you for having me. I appreciate your thoughtful questions.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
If this episode lit something up and you share it,
text it to a friend, post it to your stories,
or leave a review. Because Big Goal Energy is meant
to be felt far and wide, and if you're ready
to go deeper, explore the tools, hypnosis, sessions, and support.
Because your vision deserves more than hustle. Join us on
the Big Goal Energy app by visiting your app store
(33:35):
and typing in Big Goal Energy. Your vision your goals
deserve alignment, ease, and your fullest self behind them. Until
next time, trust yourself, dream bigger, and never forget you
are here for greatness.
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