← Living Your Legacy
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- [00:00]
Zosia Van Meter
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 9th district to effect real change that brings accountability and transparency in local government and stability to your local infrastructure.
- [00:18]
Narrator/Announcer
Zosia Van Meter is a public servant, community leader and candidate for state representative in Massachusetts ninth Essex District. She is dedicated to bringing people together through collaborative leadership, practical solutions, and meaningful public service that strengthens every community she serves.
- [00:33]
Zosia Van Meter
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,
- [01:03]
Podcast Intro Voice
it spans the globe like a super high cold Internet. Elvis Presley. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone. It's not over until I win. The Living your Legacy podcast for those who live to leave a legacy that's extraordinary. The impossible has been. Oh, that is sensational. Jordan Open Chicago was the lead. You said, paul is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream.
- [01:37]
Jason Tyler
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. Zosha, welcome to the show.
- [01:46]
Zosia Van Meter
Hi, Jason. Thank you for having me.
- [01:48]
Jason Tyler
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?
- [02:02]
Zosia Van Meter
I hope people can take away the lesson of the power in resilience.
- [02:07]
Jason Tyler
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 US Talk to me a little bit about what that was like for you.
- [02:21]
Zosia Van Meter
Sure. So I was born in the southern part of the Philippines in 1986, and I was adopted and brought to the US 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.
- [02:56]
Jason Tyler
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?
- [03:03]
Narrator/Announcer
That.
- [03:03]
Jason Tyler
That actually had. So I, 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
- [03:15]
Zosia Van Meter
a look like, are you still a baby?
- [03:18]
Jason Tyler
I don't know if that.
- [03:19]
Zosia Van Meter
Is that your baby?
- [03:20]
Jason Tyler
I'm not really 100% sure. And it's a. 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.
- [03:31]
Zosia Van Meter
Yeah.
- [03:32]
Jason Tyler
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?
- [03:49]
Zosia Van Meter
I want to say it was probably junior, 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, they would speak English, they would play games. Some of them would be, you know, American games like Monopoly. Some of it could be, you know, other games that they, you know, traditional Filipino games that they brought, that they brought from their culture. And it was just. That was my first experience of just seeing how Filipino culture, for first or second generation immigrants to this country really, you know, rolled into, not necessarily falling by the wayside, but assimilating in a way that you could carry both with
- [04:41]
Jason Tyler
you, like being able to keep both of them alive while also kind of American culture is this kind of, you know, it's this melting pot of all of these different cultures. But there's kind of a through line amongst it, which is, well, which is capitalism. But let's.
- [04:56]
Narrator/Announcer
That's.
- [04:56]
Jason Tyler
That's a conversation for another time. But talk to me a little bit about, like, you know, you get that first experience With Filipino culture, was that kind of like an awakening for you where you were like, you got super curious about it, you wanted to go, you know, learn more about it?
- [05:11]
Zosia Van Meter
Yes, definitely. I, I fell in love with it. I fell in love with the idea, and it definitely piqued my curiosity. And I remember wanting to go to it more and being more of a part of it. But unfortunately, the transportation was an issue for me. I'm north of Boston, not actually in Boston proper. So as a child, you know, as a high school student who didn't have a car, you know, and two caretakers in the house who worked full time, you know, getting in and out of Boston wasn't necessarily the easiest thing to do. You know, something that we joke about in Boston is that Boston is, you know, an hour from Boston. Like the, the traffic is insane.
- [05:45]
Jason Tyler
Listen, my commute here, I. Listen, I live 16 miles away from this studio. My commute here every morning is an hour and 45 minutes to go. 16 miles.
- [05:54]
Zosia Van Meter
That's insane.
- [05:55]
Jason Tyler
Because of how bad the traffic is.
- [05:56]
Zosia Van Meter
Yeah.
- [05:57]
Jason Tyler
So you get to, to our representatives out there, you know, in government, we need more trains, more train systems, high speed rails, whatever you want to call it. I've been to, I've been to Japan. Their public transit is the craziest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. But while we're on the subject of representatives, you are also running for state representative of Massachusetts. So talk to me a little bit about that.
- [06:21]
Zosia Van Meter
Yeah, sure. So this is a campaign that I decided I was going to run about mid last year, and I announced it toward the end of the year after the local municipal election was over. And I am running in the 9th Essex district of Massachusetts, which is just north of Boston. It's a small part of Lynn, half of Wakefield, and the majority of Saugus. And I am challenging a 16 year Republican incumbent and hoping to flip a seat.
- [06:46]
Jason Tyler
We gotta, we gotta put term limits on things, man. I'm a firm believer in putting term limits on things. I think nobody should be in a seat for that long.
- [06:56]
Zosia Van Meter
For a lifetime.
- [06:57]
Jason Tyler
For a lifetime. I'm a big, big proponent of that. But talk to me about, like, what platform are. Is Zosia running on? What's your, what's your main a like? I think now, at least in the political landscape that we find ourselves in, I think right now what people are looking for are agents of change. Yes, right. What are some of the changes that you would like to make to the landscape of your district?
- [07:21]
Zosia Van Meter
So definitely changes to the landscape of the district, but first and foremost, changes to the landscape of the political atmosphere. I'm not a politician. This is the first campaign that I'm running. And actually on my palm card, the very front of it says, I'm not a politician. I'm a community organizer who wants to change the way we see politics. And I want to change it in that 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, and just an overall change in just how policy is made and how government runs. At least for my office, when I'm elected, I definitely want to keep a much more open line of communication because my goal would be that organizers don't need to lobby to get my attention. It would be very simple. It would just be, hey, I know that if we send an email to this address, either she or one of her staff aides will get back to us within three to five business days. And it's that kind of accountability and that kind of consistency that will build trust. It build trust between government and the community. And I'm a firm believer that progress moves at the speed of trust. So if you want to be able to. So if we want to be able to affect real change, which is what I hope to do, I. My. My first and foremost goal will be to build trust with the community.
- [08:53]
Jason Tyler
I'm sold. If I could vote in Boston, I would think I would. You've got my vote. You said something that, like, really struck me. Progress moves at the speed of trust. And I think we live in a time right now, we live in a time where transparency is actually kind of easier than it's ever been, and yet there's so little of it. And I think what we're. We're transitioning into an age of. An age of transparency and an age of truth. I think that that's where we're kind of headed as a society. But there's a lot of pushback. Yes, because with truth means that people who have been in these seats for 16 years should probably be pretty open about, oh, what were some of the deals that happened while you were in. While you were in that seat? Who were you helping out when you signed that piece of legislation that allowed for people to dump toxic waste into our waterways or do x, Y and Z and other things?
- [09:48]
Zosia Van Meter
Accountability can be very uncomfortable for some people, and I get that it's only
- [09:52]
Jason Tyler
uncomfortable if you were doing things that you shouldn't probably have been doing, in
- [09:57]
Zosia Van Meter
my view, oh, 100%, you know, and I think that, you know, there's a lot of that's just the way things are done. You know, there's this level of apathy on both sides. Whether you're in the community or you're in the government. There's a level of apathy of just, this is how things are done. I work in municipal government, and the number of times that I hear that, well, that's just the way we've always done it. That's just the way that we do it. Well, this is how we did it the last time it came up. I don't understand why people can't say, okay, that's the way that we did it last time.
- [10:25]
Jason Tyler
Here's why that doesn't work.
- [10:26]
Zosia Van Meter
How can we do it differently this time? We did it this way last time, and it yielded X, Y, and Z. We don't want X and Y, but we want to keep Z. So how do we do inequity and process audit of what we're doing to either firm up certain processes or to expand so that we're filling equity gaps? And that's the way that I look at every policy that comes across my desk. Every, you know, anything that needs to be done, we look at it, or I look at it as a full life cycle, you know, not just. Not just the individual process.
- [10:59]
Jason Tyler
We have to be able to practice more creative problem solving. I think, in our politics. And, you know, we. I'm all for tradition and I'm all for processes that have been. I think, you know, the United States Constitution is the greatest piece of, you know, lawmaking or legislation that's ever been written. But I don't think it's doctrine, and I don't think it needs to be this, like, piece of legislation that we can't change. We can't make any, you know, I
- [11:28]
Zosia Van Meter
mean, well, that's why we have the amendments, right?
- [11:30]
Jason Tyler
Yeah. Like, we have to be able to say, like, hey, this is the way things have been done. These parts are inefficient now, or they don't fit within the fabric of the way that society runs today. Here's what we can change about them and here's how we move forward in a creative way instead of having people who are like, oh, well, this to your point, this is the way we've always done it. Why do we need to keep doing things?
- [11:53]
Zosia Van Meter
It's just scary. And that's really what it is. And, you know, and I understand that when you Talk to people. Change is scary because with change, even if it's good, comes grief because you're used to how things were. And going into the unknown, especially if it's going to be something that impact could impact you in a really big way. It's very scary. And I think that that's why it's important to have transparency in government, to write things in plain language. When I say transparency in government, I don't say, oh, release the first draft of that. You know, that new policy that you're going to release. No one's going to read it. It's going to be seven pages of legalese that no one can really understand. Write it out in plain language. Write it out in multiple languages. The point is, is you want to be able to communicate with people where they are. So you, you know, so you put things out there in plain language in multiple languages, not just digital, but also analog. Post things at your local library, post things at local coffee shops. Hold in person press conferences or in person office hours, so that if somebody says, hey, listen, I read this, but I'm concerned about this, they have an opportunity to have that dialogue because those are the things that are going to ease those concerns. And if, and again, if you want to be able to build trust, you have to show that you're trustworthy. And if you want people to have confidence in you, you have to show them that you're competent. You can't just blindly ask people, hey, will you vote for me? Hey, do I have your support? So I actually just started canvassing a few weeks ago, and I was looking at the scripts because, I mean, this is what every politician does, right? You get, you get your scripts, you get your, your marching orders, and you go out there and you knock doors and you read through the script. And I'm reading it and I'm, and I'm thinking about him like, this is the first time I'm meeting these people. I am not comfortable from the very first time I meet these people to say, hey, my name is Zosia Van Meter. Here's a couple things that I did that I'm telling you about right now. Will you vote for me? Absolutely not. How presumptuous, right?
- [13:41]
Jason Tyler
It's just, it feels robotic. And I'm even, even in my line of work, like, I, as I work in production, I've been a documentary filmmaker for about 10 years now. And like, I'm a, I'm an avid. I don't follow scripts. Like, when we go into your interview later, I have a script for it. I'm throwing it out. Okay, I'm not throwing it out. But I treat the script as kind of like the bones. The bones of the conversation that I want to have. But you need to be able to make it your own.
- [14:06]
Zosia Van Meter
You need to be authentic.
- [14:07]
Jason Tyler
You have to be authentic.
- [14:08]
Zosia Van Meter
And that's the thing is. That's the thing that I hear about so many politicians. They're robotic. You can tell they're reading. You know, it's all scripted. I hate doing that. So the past few weeks, as I've been. As I've been canvassing, I knock on somebody's door nine times out of ten, no one's going to answer the door. No one wants to answer the door. That's why we have ring cameras. But when somebody does answer the door, I would just introduce myself. I'd say, hi, my name is Zosia Van Meter. I'm running for state representative, and I'm walking the neighborhood to introduce myself to folks. Here's my literature. If you could please take some time to review it, and maybe the next time I knock on your door, we'll have more of a conversation. And that's it. And I leave it at that, because again, like I said, I think it's just presumptuous from the first time people see me, hear my name or know anything about me to say, hey, do I blindly have your support? And I don't know. I just. I'm. I'm really. I really want to build a good base. I want to build a base of people who know me, know my work, know my heart, and can trust me. Because these terms are only two years, which means that every other year, I would have to be campaigning. I don't want to do that, because if I'm out there campaigning, I'm not in the statehouse doing real work. So my goal is to have a big enough team to be able to do the canvassing for me during the years when there are elections and to build enough of a base in the community that they see my name and they go, yes, she's been doing a great job, and she's what we need. She has my support. And that's it. And that. And that's the goal is this year. Campaign hard, build that base. So that way I'm building. Building a solid future for my political career.
- [15:43]
Jason Tyler
Got you. Gotcha. And, you know, in Jamaica, we have a saying. My grandfather used to tell me this all the time, said, go out and make people know you. Be a part of the community. Be outside and Let people see you regularly and know who you are. And I think when I look at the campaigns of, like, Zoram Hamdani, for example, he's outside in New York all the time. Like, every time you see him on video, he's just on a random street corner somewhere. He's outside asking people questions about, like, hey, what are. What are the issues that you're dealing with? Specifically, how can I affect those issues as your mayor or as your representative?
- [16:19]
Narrator/Announcer
What.
- [16:20]
Jason Tyler
What. What are some things that you're concerned with in the politics of our area, like being able to go out and be a part of the community and ask people, real everyday people these questions, I think is, like, a huge thing. So I want to just, you know, as we kind of wind down the podcast here, because we're getting ready to go record your episode, I want to ask if you could just take a moment to look to this camera right here and just give me your soft pitch. Pretend on the other side of that camera is your ideal candidate or the person that you want to represent. What do you have to say to them?
- [16:55]
Zosia Van Meter
I would say, hi, 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 9th district to affect real change that brings accountability and transparency in local government and stability to your local infrastructure.
- [17:14]
Jason Tyler
Boom. It's almost like you had that prepared.
- [17:17]
Zosia Van Meter
I didn't, actually.
- [17:21]
Jason Tyler
Absolutely. Well, Zosia, it has been an incredible pleasure having you here on the show. I think we're ready to go record your episode. You ready to do it?
- [17:31]
Zosia Van Meter
Let's do this.
- [17:31]
Jason Tyler
Let's do it. All right, guys. Now, if you're still tuned in at this point, I want to make sure that you guys go check out Zosia's episode of Women in Power, which will be coming out shortly after this podcast episode airs. So make sure you guys stay tuned for. For that. You're going to get a full deep dive on her story, so make sure you guys go and watch that, but we're going to go record that episode right now. So this has been another episode of the Living your legacy podcast. Again, I'm your host, Jason, and I'll catch you guys in the next one.