I’ve been wanting to start this series of posts for a few months, but never got to it. Hopefully, I won’t lose interest overtime and write a few more over the next couple of weeks.

I think it might be interesting to let you get a glimpse of the people I’m currently admiring and inspire me to be a better version of myself, on one way or another. And I say “currently” because this list is ever-changing , as it should. New people come into the scene constantly, I learn about different figures as I dig deeper into different topics, and my opinions, thoughts, beliefs and interest change and develop over-time.

After making a list of the people I wanted to write about, I ended up deciding Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would be the best place to start. I chose her because she is the one that I think made the most lasting impact on me. Also, I believe I will keep looking up to her as time goes by.

Who is AOC?

To give you a little bit of context, AOC is an American politician that came into the spotlight in 2018 after beating one of the top-ranking members of the Democratic party in New York’s primary elections. She later became the youngest congresswoman ever in U.S history. Finally, she made noise and stayed in the public eye for her intense personality, the constant attacks she received from the Republican party (including the President himself) and her “radical” views. I’ve put radical between quotes because once you know what these “radical” views and proposals are, you realize there’s nothing radical about them other than the challenges they pose to the powers that be.

With that out of the way, lets talk about why she inspires me.

Why does AOC inspire me?

Although I find her political views and mannerisms very interesting and are central to my opinions on her, those are not my main reasons. She inspires me because of what she represents.

The future of politics…

Lets start by listing a couple of things about her:

• She is young. So young that she is the youngest congresswoman ever elected, and one of the youngest congress members elected in modern history.
• AOC is a “working-class” politician. She was a bartender in New York until she won the election.
• She has a no-bullshit attitude and speaks her mind, regardless of the “political cost”.
• Ocasio-Cortez has become one of the most prominent figures of the Democratic party in under two years.

As you can see, all these things have something to do with American politics. So you may ask why do I care about that if I’m not American nor live in the US. The simple answers is: I’m looking at the big picture.

You can’t deny that the US is one of the most powerful and influential countries in the world (if not the most). So electing someone so young who had almost no political background over one of the most important figures of the party with over 20 years of experience could be the beginning of a shift in political representation around the world.

Her age might not seem important for you, but for me is huge. A lot of representatives are in their lates 60s, 70s and even 80s. So, why are we making them responsible for our futures, when they are not going to be around much longer to live through their decisions? Young people are the ones who will have to live with the benefits and consequences of the decisions our representatives make, so we should definitely have a seat on the table. And a voice. A loud one at that.

I know life experience and knowledge is very important, but times have changed, and so has society. Thanks to the influence of technology in everyday life, it will keep changing even more frequently. Older people are just more reluctant to understand those changes and adapt to them. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t say that’s the case with everyone, but unfortunately it’s true to a vast majority. So, to add to the feeling many already had about career-politicians being out of touch with everyday life, now you’d have to add the fact that they are so set in their old ways that they don’t even understand how we live (if you want to cringe hard, go watch the hearings about Google, Facebook and see what some representatives asked)

… and MY future.

I think her influence goes beyond politics and US borders. She is spear-heading a movement that shaking up the status quo of one of the biggest and most powerful countries in the world. She is doing that as a first-term congresswoman who just 2 years ago was a bartender in Queens. She is doing that as a twenty-something woman “against” politicians with decades of experience. And she is doing all this because she got fed up with how thing were, so she took it upon herself to change it. So… if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez can stand up in Congress and fight for what she believes in, become one of the most known politicians in the United States, garner the support of millions of people around the world and many more things and change the world one step at a time, why can’t I do the same in my field of work?

What I’m trying to say here is she inspires me because she helped me realize there’s no challenge to big for me to tackle. She made me realize me being young doesn’t mean I’m not at the same level as people who have been around for longer. I just have to give myself a chance and stand up for my ideas and for what I believe is the right thing to do. Along the way I will face challenges, I will have disagreements, there will be people that will try to dismiss me. But that doesn’t matter, because, after all my efforts, I just may succeed. And, however big or small, I will have made a difference and change my life and my world… or maybe THE world.