You have to meet the moment.

I know you're busy. I know you're tired. I know a lot is on your plate.

… but you have to meet the moment.

Society is at a huge inflection point right now. We're increasingly seeing a world where we no longer care about having social contracts with each other, unless they are beneficial to us. The concept of being your neighbor's keeper is slowly fading away and the bargaining of our humanity is what is at stake.

I spent this past weekend at home, keeping it low key, on my Martha Stewart grind. Outside of spending time with my people and roaming around Le Creuset picking out some amazing things for my kitchen, I decided to pick up one of my favorite books: The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah.

While my favorite book remains The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, The Coldest Winter Ever has always come a close second. The main character of the book is a young girl named Winter Santiaga. She is from Brooklyn, very hood, dresses fly, doesn't play games about herself or her money and is as thorough as you can imagine. She loves her family and she loves her neighborhood.

When I think of Winter, I think of me. I think of the younger version of myself that grew up in East New York and had no choice but to be my neighbor's keeper. East New York has always been a community of the "have nots", a community of working class people who were just trying to make it through the day. It is still that community and I would know that because my family is still there.

In my projects (Pink Houses), a lot of us each needed each other. We bartered from one another, passed out "hand me downs" and shared things whenever we could and whenever we needed to. While my neighborhood always gets a bad rep for drugs, violence and crime, those are not the only memories that find me when I think of where I am from. My favorite memories are the ones where I actively saw us sharing, giving and leaning on each other.

I remember that before I had the language to describe what it looked like to be your neighbor's keeper, my parents modeled that. A few nights per week several neighbors would come knocking on our family's apartment door. My mom would greet them at the doorway with plates, and sometimes bowls, of rice and beans. She would hand it to them, give them a hug, say, "dios te bendiga", which means "God bless you". My dad would often be in the background sending them a salute or a wave from our living room. The neighbors would say thank you and then the apartment door would close.

I remember this happening more times than I could count. At the time, I wondered why my neighbors didn't cook for themselves and as I came to understand my environment, I realized that they didn't have the means to.

My parents were far from wealthy. They didn't have an education past high school. They didn't have fancy credentials or a pedigree that most in modern day society aspire to.

… but my parents, they were community heroes. The type of people who had your back if you were in between a rock and a hard place. The type of people who raised me as their daughter and also helped raise three generations of Santanas that came after me. The type of people who gave, and continue to give of themselves knowingly and unknowingly. The type of people whose door you could knock on for a plate of food and they'd never turn you away.

That is the type of person they raised me to be and I don't think it is a coincidence that I have found myself in a career that at its core aims to help people and push our culture forward. My parents are the definition of what it looks like to be your neighbor's keeper. In a world where strings seem to always be attached, it is beautiful to have memories of a childhood where that was not my reality, where the expectation was that we treat everyone with deep respect and care.

This Week's Episode Is Here:

A few years ago, I had an opportunity to meet Hector Mujica, US Candidate for Senate in Florida. At the time he was the Head of Economic Opportunity for Google.org. We connected in 2023 in Aspen over a private dinner and a lot of folks at the table were encouraging him to run for politics. A few months ago, he decided to do just that. He left Google.org and launched his campaign.

Hector is from South Florida and the proud product of Florida's public education system all through college. His parents migrated to the states from Venezuela and were a working class family that Hector says achieved their American Dream. I am really proud of Hector for representing his community the way in which I represent mine. So many of us are conditioned to leave our neighborhoods and never step foot back in them… but not Hector. It is encouraging to see him want a brighter future for Florida. What I most like about him as a candidate is that he has a perspective on technology and AI that I believe is currently missing from the public sector.

It is no secret that Florida is one of those states that voters keep their eyes on, and they should. It has tremendous political influence in the US. It has been known as a swing state, but I'd argue that it has become a lot more Republican over time. It is the third largest state and one of the fastest growing as well. At the same time, the cost of living in Florida, especially South Florida, has become outrageous. The state needs new solutions, new policies and new structures to support this.

It is easy for us to get caught up in our own lives, our own issues, our own problems. Please know that while you are dealing with your life, you still have the responsibility of being your neighbor's keeper. Hector is one of those people who are meeting the moment. I hope you all are encouraged to do the same.

This week I am excited to sit down with Hector and go deeper into his experiences in tech, AI and his candidacy for US Senate in Florida. I am wishing him and his team the best of luck with their campaign.