And the Charlie Hebdo and november 2015 terrorist attacks in paris. Just interviewed numerous heads of state including president barack obama and george w. Bush as well as senators, governors and foreign dignitaries. Before time, she was a small for bloomberg or she covered the white house, congress and the 2004 president ial campaign. She received an m. S. In journalism from columbia and an undergraduate degrees in International Relations and art history from tufts university. She was a 2015 Harvard Institute of politics fellow at the 2016 new America Foundation fellow. Welcome. [applause] tonight second panelist is the honorable kay hagan who serve as United States senator from North Carolina from 20092015. Prior to her time in the u. S. Senate she served and the North Carolina senate from 19992009. After taking office in january of 2009 senator hagan served on four committees the Armed Services, banking, housing and urban affairs, Small Business and not a partnership, and Health Education labor and pensions them hell. She introduced legislation to train workers for the jobs of able right now by bringing businesses together with Community Colleges to great credential program. Shes been a champion for education throughout her career in public service. As a member of the senate h. E. L. P. Committee she were to include legislation to the Financial Literacy first and ask and for education reform. To assure this remains competitive she led the fight to update technology and our Public Schools to meet the needs of todays students. Senator hagan was born in shelby north collide and is a graduate of Florida State university and we could force law school. Please join me in welcoming tonights panelists. [applause] spent force i want to say thank you so much to nyu and you guys are coming. Thanks having to talk about broad influence. I want to thank kay hagan, senator hagan for doing this. Its awesome to have your to talk with me about this. To give you a bit of background, we were fellows together at harvard. And so she saw lots of drafts of broad influence adobe, was one of people who help a right to some of the things. Its great to have her here to talk to a lot of the issues in the weve known each other, more than a year now. Shes really familia for me with other stuff having served in the senate as well as work in a lot of industries that i talk about in my book. Did a bit of background about broad influence, i first got interested in doing a book after i did a story for Time Magazine and 2013 during the government shut down about the women of the senate coming together during the Government Shutdown to restart the negotiation, to reopen the government when none of the men would talk to each other. I have a lot of interest in writing a book about the women of the senate but the women of the senate were already writing for books. What interested me in that episode was it was the first time that that was 20 women. They ended up having a huge impact into session. They ended up producing 75 of the legislation in that session. It was tangible difference. I covered the senate and congress on and off for almost 14 years and it was such a tangible difference that session. You could really see the impact women were having. Having written a story i started getting cards and emails and notes from friends and from perfect strangers from all across the country saying that this sort of phenomenon of critical must exist elsewhere. Critical mass is somewhere between 2030 of any institution, whether its a legislature or Corporate Board, a navy ship or an Appellate Court and women begin to change the culture of that institution. It comes from science. Its the point at which Chain Reaction cannot be stopped. Thats the point of which in a Nuclear Reaction that you cant make the thing not go boom. So in this case sociology issues Critical Mass in terms of gender but really any minority. It was used for example, in integrating africanamerican students post Civil Rights Act and the south. There was a quoteunquote Critical Mass 20 mandated in the school. But in term terms of gender thet hundreds of study on this issue. So whether, that looks at, sorry, this phenomenon. Its summer between 2030 because a lot will depend on critical actors. The reason why the senate was the threshold of 20 , based on a lot done with this it so many powerful women, critical actors in that senate. They ended up chairing i think nine of the committees 11, right . Ended up chairing a Ranking Member levin committees. They control more than half the committees. The same sort of thing happens with navy ships. When you integrate navy ships you need a minimum, you start always with offices and go down to the rankandfile. It is why its important to get female ceos, female president. Because theyre the ones who uplift of the women up and help create Critical Mass. When you have a critical actors you need less overall to reach Critical Mass. Thats the idea of the book and theres lots of chapters about the city, about the house, about wall street, different areas. So until be fun to chat with kay in with you guys is what about the chapters where kay has so much expertise and shes amazing it. So we are going to start and i would like to ask kay to talk a little bit about being innocent in the 113th senate and what it was like being one of those 20 women. Did you feel a tangible difference . I want to go back to what you said about the 20 . It was so true and so evident that when i got elected, we had at the time 20 women and the city. Obviously, weve hit the 20 threshold. When you look at what that means, that really does mean we were able to pass significant legislation because we came together. Went 11 of the 20 committees were chaired by women, but what took place. We got a transportation bill. We got a farm bill. And agriculture bill which was long in coming. We got a Water Resources bill. We got a budget. Barbara mikulski chaired the appropriations committee. All of those things tentatively. When you studied you wonder why. I think that as your book really analyze a great deal in of the people especially sociologist, they say women bring to the table something different. And ability to compromise, and ability to stay active until you get the job done. Through the power struggles, the austin kelly is put aside. Whats in it for everybody. That means youre not going to get everything you want, otherwise its a winlose situation. How can we compromise, how can we come together to understand what the prevailing issues are. At the end of the day get something done. I think that one is what our country want it is demanding, but at the same point who is doing it . The women at the table arent getting it done. But you cant get it done unless one thing, you run for office. You get the education that makes you available to become that ceo. Go through the navy to get to be the first weapon and on a submarine. All of these things dont just happen because you are a woman. They happen because you are welltrained, well educated and united do the job. Ive got to always focus on that. Historically if you look at women running for office, women tend to be recruited. So whenever i am speaking to a group of students and in particular male and female, i always encourage everybody to consider one day running for office. Im giving this shtick to you right at. We need young people. We need women and men who are well educated that understand how the government offices work, have city council, education and all of those things. It really, really is important to but then i take it one step further and i look at the women, and many times young girls and i say, i am recruiting you particularly to run because girls need to be recruited. I will have to admit i was going to do it no matter running for the state senate, but when you have the governor calling me up and saying by the way, kay hagan, we we would like you to run. It gives you that extra little impetus to say im planning on. Lets do it. Lets talk about this. They say takes asking a woman seven times before she will run for office. Was that true for you . I think it certainly makes it easier, not seven times. But once again i knew i wanted to do it. But when you have a governor, we have the president of the senate, we have the majority leader come to you can sit down and say we really want to come and by the way, were going to help, it helps a lot. What was your experience running for office in terms of, is a different for a man, for a woman running for office dg few more prepared . Women want to wait until its the perfect time. I tell people theres never going to be a perfect time, effort. Whether its the business youre in, what is your family situation, whether you young kids were old kids or your parents are now ill, you will never have a perfect time. Please got to just i call it we will jumping into this. I say we, because if you have a family, let me tell you, its a family event. In my case i have an incredibly supportive husband. When i first ran, and this was back in 1998, of the kids, the first commercial we failed was the driving a minivan with all the kids in a soccer close run into a soccer fan, the minivan and mom takes off. They loved it. It was a 30second at and pick out the stopwatch is out and said we are all in for three seconds. Wheres our part . And then the more you do it, when i ran for the u. S. Senate my kids are heading to college campuses, who were still in school, took a sixmonth sabbatical and then went back so they could give speeches on college campuses. Its fun. When i ran the second time after the Citizens United case decision, all of a sudden you this unlimited amount of money, which means 30second ads that are the worst things you can possibly imagine. I had my team can overcome the whole family, and sent show was the worst commercial that youve seen. To be sure, my family was geared up and ready to go. There were some terrible ones out there. So sure enough they said we are behind you, mom, whenever said. And off we went. You were the first woman who ran against another one for send it. In 2008 she beat Elizabeth Dole for send. Talk about terrible commercials. There was one she reckoned she where she called you god bless i believe the. It was historically this think is probably one of the best retorts to a commercial. God bless. And individual hosted a fundraiser for me was a humanist atheist. They use that as if i was a godless person. And i am an elder in the church, sunday school teacher. The furthest thing you can imagine from an atheist. I really dont think that should focus in on running for Political Office the way weve seen so much of it today. I ended up having a press conference on the lawn of my church the very next morning after that ad ran, and i had my Bible Studies clash. I had a jewish rabbi who was there, a catholic priest, as well as a retired minister of my church. I was going to ask the actual we have a bright the people in a religious or position as you can imagine. But what my report was was an ad that said thou shalt not bear false witness against my fellow christians. Bam. I ended up winning by close to nine points, so it was it didnt work out the way it was there hail mary pass. There hail mary pass. One of the things that fascinate about this and what it got so much done is because they got together abroad. They had these monthly dinners where they would talk about not necessary legislation, like anything that was going on and theyre actually friends. It used to be in washington once upon a time in those able days when washington was functional, like you had Ronald Reagan and tip oneill. They used to call each other for friends and have drinks every night in the house and senate used to move th the fellowship d would later and they would become friends. That began to change under Newt Gingrich are basically changed the house rules in order to allow more recesses, longer weekends, to send a resume for we he that is a corrupting influence the people inside the beltway too much. Winchester in a different way. But it actually ended up depriving a lot of members from friendships across the aisle, or even friendships within own party. Able just didnt have time and a few days of the weaker to get to know each other, and so when things became more and more dysfunctional as a lot of people who were friends with each other retired, were not many friendships left in order to rely on each other when this sort of official leaders broke down and talks ended and stopped. In the democratic crookroom there are telephone booths. She has her own telephone booth for being honored as the longest serving woman, which is a big deal. She would convene sever e every sick weeks wes have dinner together, democrats and republicans. And at some points we would rotate. A lot of times the din were be held in the capitol in what was called the Strom Thurmond room, and its a very elegant chandelier. I dont know Strom Thurmond was a renowned, lets me say, female grabber, and the female pages were warp not to come within arms helping length of him. He was ladys man, you could say. So the fact they were having this women dinners and lunches in at the Strom Thurmond room, the irony is not lost on many of the women. Then i can remember when senator we got an email saying she was going to have a potluck dinner and she said her team said you cant have a potluck dinner and ask u. S. Senators to bring something . She said, yes, i can. And sure enough, everybody brought something from their home state. Not and she sort of said, you bring the entree, you bring this, and she had the entree of salmon that her husband had just caught the week before. And we had it at her home. It was wonderful. We had a ball. And women, we talk, we have a good time, talk about our families, business, and everything is like Claire Mccaskill had it at her place one time, at her condo, down this long narrow hallway, and youre looking at yourphone saying, whats the address . Whats the apartment number . Outget out of the elevator and its the din of the womens voices. You know right where to go to find it. I hosted it one time, several months before my election, and its i wouldnt have not to do that. We had it at the library of congress, and we asked the some of the anymore charge i asked them to pull together some historical facts about women, and we just had an incredible night. One of those times, you had many, many multiple things going on so if you cooperate make the dinner, every woman showed up for part of it. So, i think anythinges on the senate . You mentioned about the shutdown, the Government Shutdown, one of the i dont know if it was the Washington Post or which paper that said the men shut us down, we them got us out. Because of the women coming together, to forge and craft a compromise to open the Government Back up after 16 days. So, my books grew from here, and one of the main things i found was actually that the Public Sector is doing a lot better for women than the private sector, and so all three branches of government are reaching Critical Mass about the same time, 20 in congress, you have 30 of the administration in terms of high Level Civil Service and political appointees, and you have 35, 36 now percent of the federal bench. 40 parse of state judges are women as well. Its striking when you look at the private sector which has been solid for the last basically decade at 17 Corporate Board representation. And about 20 to 21 representation in executive suite work forces and theres a lot of factors. Some women select to go into public service. They will miss the soccer games and better be for the greater good. The path is sometimes easier. A state legislature in 35 states are parttime job, and Public Sector unions are stronger in protecting jobs for women. So theres a bunch of different reasons. You chose to go from private from a private practice at the time or working in the Financial Sector. Financial sector. The Financial Sector is by par the worst except in silicon valley, which i have chapters on both. On wall street and on silicon valley. Theyre the farthest apart from Critical Mass for women and thats because women dont are not as strong as men in Stem Education which i science, technology, engineering and math. And then both of those professions tend to be very tesss testosterone driven and dont have a lot of opportunities for women. A great theory called where the idea is if Lehman Brothers had been lehman sisters the Global Financial crisis would not have happened because women take less risks. And so i look at this and i think its a really interesting question. Do you think its true . Hmm. I have to think about that one. When i worked for a bank, one of the predecessors to bank of america, and i can remember when we were at that time we would actually go over loans and c