Nancy Pelosi

Work-Life Balance

LHJ: You are a mother of five and were a homemaker for many years before entering politics. You say in your book that the skills you honed doing those things were the same ones you needed when you got to Congress. How so?

NP: Absolutely, and this is what I want women to know, so they recognize the value of their own path, their unique experience. I've been in politics a while, over 20 years in the Congress of the United States, and this is a very rough-and-tumble.... I shouldn't say 'rough,' let me say a very challenging arena to be in. But as challenging as it is, nothing is as challenging as raising a family -- nothing. That experience forced me to be disciplined, diplomatic, focused, and successful, and I brought that discipline and focus to the Congress. Also, having a family keeps you focused on the future, which is the biggest inspiration in politics. In order to do what it takes to succeed in politics, you have to be inspired by your constituents, the power of your ideas, and the fact that you speak on behalf of children and their future, whether you have children of your own or not. It makes all the difference in the world.

LHJ: How did your children react when you became the first female Speaker?

NP: [Laughs] To tell you the truth, I was so busy winning the election and actually, when we won we were still not finished because we had a few races where the outcome was in doubt. I was so engrossed that when the day came, a week later, 10 days later, whenever it was, when the day came I just thought, "Oh my God!" And I remember how still-engrossed in the elections I was when my name was placed in nomination. I went to accept it and Rahm Emanuel said to me, "Your parents would be so proud." It just took me aback, because, well, of course my parents are proud of me, but they didn't raise me to be Speaker, they raised me to be good, to be holy, and that was the measure of success for them, for their children. Yes, they would be proud of this because it is a wonderful accomplishment, but my parents wanted my personal happiness and personal fulfillment to be the measure of our success and the source of their pride. And it just struck me when he said that, I thought "Well, they've been proud of me my whole life just because of the person that I am and the parent I became. But I guess you're right, now I am the Speaker of the House!" And then it really dawned on me, "Oh my, now I'm in a whole different realm."