Arizona state senator featured in Lifetime’s ‘Her America’ series
Feb 15, 2018, 4:50 AM
PHOENIX — An Arizona lawmaker has been featured in a digital series for the Lifetime television network that highlights real women across the country.
Arizona State Sen. Kimberly Yee was featured in the “Her America: 50 Women, 50 States” series. She was described as “Arizona’s first female Asian-American state senator” who “[charted] a new path for the GOP.”
The series aimed to capture “portraits of women — what moves them, the opinions they hold dear, asking how they would like to share their story to the world.”
As part of the series, Yee was profiled in a photo essay that highlighted her experience as state senator and potentially the second woman to serve as state treasurer.
“It hits home when I’m in the middle of a hotly contested policy debate and in every other chair around the conference table is an older man,” she said.
“I had an older colleague in this legislature call me kiddo. I quickly—very quickly—said ‘Senator, I do not appreciate being called kiddo. How would you like being called an old man?’ We laughed together. But he never called me kiddo again.”
Yee also spoke about her experience in running for office, and how some people advised her to “downplay” her Chinese heritage.
“One of the consultants said, ‘Maybe you should run with your campaign signs saying Kimberly and drop your last name,’” Yee said.
“I said, ‘I am going to run as Kimberly Yee and it’s going to be displayed on my campaign signs. We will find out on election day if Arizona voters are ready for their first Asian woman to be elected to the legislature.’ And we found out that night that they were ready.”
Yee also said she uses her position as Senate majority leader to “brings the sides together to be a united front.”
“What the Senate majority leader really has to take on is the fact that you are the leader of your caucus,” she said. “Your caucus is like a family, but a family doesn’t always get along.”
But Yee said she hopes she can serve as a model of a woman paving the way forward.
“Women get it done. I do absolutely believe that we’ve come a long way. We have to show that we can do it. By our example, we will lead.”
The “Her America: 50 Women, 50 States” series will also be featured in on-air spots on Lifetime.