Melissa DeRosa's Journey Through Politics and Crisis, Resilience and Reinvention, and Making Sure Nothing is Left Unsaid

LEAVE YOUR MARK: Freshly Brewed Career Advice with Aliza Licht

Aliza Licht

Business, Careers

5.0 • 585 Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2024

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As the first woman to serve as Secretary to former Governor Cuomo, the highest unelected position in state government, Melissa DeRosa knows how to thrive under pressure. In her riveting memoir, "What's Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics & Crisis," she candidly shares her journey through politics, government, and becoming an author. From the frontlines of the COVID crisis to the real events behind Governor Andrew Cuomo's meteoric rise and unfathomable fall, Melissa, one of the most powerful women in New York State government, has been on the frontlines every step of the way. She opens up about personal sacrifices, navigating crises, and the support and controversy surrounding Governor Cuomo. Reflecting on her sudden thrust into the public eye, Melissa touches on the complex dynamics of personal branding, calling into question the narratives we construct around public figures and advocating for a more nuanced understanding beyond superficial judgments. In this episode of Leave Your Mark, Melissa shares her career journey from her early days in fashion PR to her rapid rise in New York State's political arena, with an unprecedented view into the behind-the-scenes crisis management of the COVID-19 pandemic. On this show and in her book, she shares the personal challenges she faced with raw honesty and vulnerability—a failing marriage, infertility, death threats, misogyny—all while navigating unprecedented professional landmines along the way.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, this is Alie the Lict and this is Leave Your Mark the podcast where I brew fresh
0:05.4	career advice with some of my most inspiring and successful friends.
0:09.6	It's professional advice that you can action immediately, whether you're just starting out
0:13.8	in your career or well on your way.
0:16.5	With a massive to-do list and a large cup of coffee, I promise that you can get it all done and still
0:22.5	have time to post about it. I am so excited and honored to welcome Melissa de Rosa to leave your
0:31.8	mark. For those of you listening, Melissa is a 20-year veteran of politics and government at the most senior level.
0:39.6	She's a Democratic strategist living in New York City.
0:42.5	And Melissa served as communications director, strategic advisor, chief of staff, and secretary, the first female secretary to Governor Cuomo.
0:51.2	And she has this incredible history of just being this badass chick and obviously
0:58.8	a lot has changed over the course of her career but she has a new book out what's left unsaid and
1:04.7	Melissa I'm so excited to reconnect with you at this point in your career because what you've been able to do, what you've been through,
1:13.6	and how you've now come out with this book, What's Left Unsaid, which you have a lot of things
1:17.5	that are now said in this book. I'm excited to dig into it from the perspective of your professional
1:24.2	life. So welcome to leave your mark. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited
1:28.4	to see you on Zoom and reconnect with you. It's been years, but I'm such a big fan from afar and up
1:34.2	close. So thank you for having me. Oh my God, of course. So I think the funniest thing, when I started
1:38.7	reading your book, I was like, wait, she started in fashion PR? Like, what? Like, that's unbelievable to me.
1:48.2	You know, it's so funny. I was having dinner with a friend on Saturday night and we were talking
1:51.7	about somebody else that we're both friends with who had sort of veered in one direction and then
1:55.4	came back to where she was supposed to be all along. And I referenced that. And I sort of
2:00.0	joked that I think that especially for people who grow up with parents
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Aliza Licht, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Aliza Licht and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.