Minneapolis City Council member Andrea Jenkins is proud to be the first openly transgender black woman elected to public office in the U.S. But it's public service itself that gives the longtime city official and activist a sense of purpose.
"It's really a great honor to be included in those categories, but even more so to be able to sit in the Minneapolis City Council and represent my community on matters that are important to them and try to help people have better lives," Jenkins told Cheddar.
Jenkins is no political rookie. She worked as a staff member and policy aide for the Minneapolis City Council for 12 years before leaving City Hall briefly to focus on writing and activism.
She curated the Transgender Oral History Project for the University of Minnesota's Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies. The project compiled the stories of trans and gender non-conforming people in the upper Midwest.
Her poetry collection, The T is Not Silent: new and selected poems, about the plight and invisibility of the trans community, came out around the same time.
Jenkins decided to run for City Council in 2016 and was elected in 2018 along with Phillipe Cunningham, who is one of the first openly transgender men to be elected to public office.
Since then, she's helped pass a local ban on conversion therapy after the Minnesota state legislature failed to agree on the language for a statewide ban.
However, Jenkins isn't focused solely on LGBTQ issues though. The elected official has embraced her mandate to serve all of Minneapolis' needs.
"I've worked with different jurisdictions, the state government, the county government, seeking ways to end homelessness, to increase educational opportunities, to make sure that our roads and bridges are up to speed, to keep our eye focused on economic development, and to center communities of color in those conversations always," Jenkins said.
Jenkins' answer to solving the problem of violence against transgender people also encompasses broad-based economic policies.
"We stop this violence through creating more opportunities for trans and gender non-conforming people to have access to housing, to have access to full employment, to have opportunities for people to be a part of society," Jenkins said.
The lack of access to these resources and opportunities, she added, forces trans-people to the margins of society, where they are more likely to be exploited or threatened.
Looking beyond local politics, Jenkins cautiously voiced her support for Minnesota U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar in the presidential election, though she said her personal choice was still an open question.
"We need a new president, so I will be supporting whoever is nominated in that process, whether it's Bernie Sanders, Mike Bloomberg, or whoever else," she said.
Bobby Berk, designer, author, and star of Netflix's "Queer Eye," joined Cheddar News to talk about his new partnership with Lowe's Hometowns, a program to help projects across the nation over five years and with $100 million in funding to give aid to selected communities. Bobby Berk nominated “My Friend’s Place”, a shelter for homeless LGBTQ teens in Los Angeles. "I was homeless when I was a teen. I left home because I had to come out, and to be able to give back to these people who are going through the same things that I went through, it just means so much," he said.
In recognition of National Women’s Day, the pharmaceutical company Organon is giving all of its employees the day off. Geralyn Ritter, head of external affairs and ESG, for the women's therapeutics business, joined Cheddar News to discuss its call to action and its platform to grow awareness regarding specific health challenges women face. “We need to be more aware of the disproportionate impact that a tremendous number of stressors have on women and that includes broader global events from climate change to the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine with miles-long lines of women and children," Ritter said. "We simply have to make a decision that this is not acceptable anymore."
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The pandemic, chip shortages, and now war. Automakers around the world have been getting slammed, and it now seems like things could get worse. Several car manufacturers have announced they are halting sales or shutting down factories in Russia after nations around the world moved to tighten sanctions against the country. Lisa Whalen, Auto and Mobility Analyst for Morning Consult, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Shared EV service Revel raised $126 million in a Series B round. Revel first came on the map in 2018 with its shared electric moped service in New York City, which has since expanded to other cities on the east coast. The company also operates an all-Tesla ride-hailing service in Manhattan.
Now, it is looking to expand its network of EV fast-charging stations, which the company calls super-hubs. Frank Reig, CEO of Revel, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
There will soon be another, lower-cost subscription option for Disney+ — but with commercials. Disney will launch the new ad-supported tier for its streaming service in the U.S. later this year and internationally in 2023, but so far there is no word on an exact launch date or price for the new service option. Tal Chalozin, co-founder and CTO of online ad tech company Innovid, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss what the news could mean for the next chapter of the streaming wars. "I wouldn't say that are worried about subscriber growth, but they have big goals to fill," he said. "They need to go to the mid-market or the longer tail. An ad model, always proven that that that's the way to go to mass market in television."
During a time of chaos, Americans might be finding it harder than ever to relax. Author Deepak Chopra joined Cheddar News to discuss his new book, "Abundance: The Inner Path to Wealth," for his readers to find peace from within. “I focused only on one thing, and that is what is fundamental reality," he said. "And once you know that fundamental reality is not your mind, not your body, it's your spirit." He also suggested music for National Day of Unplugging, which falls on March 4.
Steve Blank, adjunct professor at Stanford University and founding faculty at Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, joins Cheddar News to discuss technology's role in modern war.
