Inspired by my own journey with mental health, I founded Girls Talk, our own safe space where we share, listen and support each other.

So get cozy and join me. Adjua Burr for some much-needed Girls Talk.

Before we get into today's episode, I have a favour to ask you.

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wherever you listen to podcasts. Mad, mad, mad, mad love in advance. Now back to the podcast.

Hello, my lovely listeners. We're back from our holiday

hiatus. We hope you missed us as much as we missed you. It's an absolute dream to say this,

and I've been keeping this a secret for quite a long time, but we have Representative

Alexandra Ocasia Cortez here on the podcast.

You may know her as the phenomenal AOC.

She needs no introduction.

So without further ado, Congresswoman, welcome to the Girls Talk podcast.

I'm so overexcited but nervous.

It's like a massive moment for myself and the girls talk team. So thank you for taking the time. No, of course. No need to be nervous at all.

It's great to be speaking with you. Where are you at the moment in New York? I'm in New York. I'm in the

Bronx in my office

overlooking kind of Hunts Point, the South Bronx area. Oh, brilliant. I mean, we had a lot of

meetings as a team to talk over what we wanted to ask you. You stand for so much and obviously

have been in Congress for five years. But I think where I want to

start is despite opponents attacking your principles and values on a regular basis, how have you

remain true to yourself? Yeah, I think whether it's in politics or in so many other areas of our lives, I've always felt that authenticity is like the central challenge. And even before I got into politics, I used to do a lot of work engaged in my community. I've always read a lot and thought a lot about the world.

And sometimes there would be people that would tell me,

...