Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said her bar work in NYC was good preparation for the abusive world of politics: 'You are harassed all the time'
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that her time in the service industry prepared her for Washington's political warfare.
"When you work in the service industry as a woman, you are harassed all the time. It’s just part of your job," she said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Ocasio-Cortez worked as a bartender in New York before her history-making election to Congress.
She worked a number of jobs, including in the service industry, to help support her mother after she graduated from Boston University in 2011.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that she was prepared to face abuse in Washington because she was "harassed all the time" in her previous job as a bartender.
Ocasio-Cortez worked in a New York City bar until late 2017, before her victory over a 10-term incumbent congressman in New York in June 2018, which laid the foundations for her to become the youngest-ever woman elected to Congress.
She told The Hollywood Reporter that this work prepared her for the nature of politics in Washington.
"When you work in the service industry as a woman, you are harassed all the time. It’s just part of your job," she said.
"You’re often spoken to in a way that is very classist. You are treated like a servant. So you really get used to navigating those dynamics."
Jeff Stein, Washington Post political reporter, shared a photo in June 2018 which shows Ocasio-Cortez working as a bartender in New York City's Union Square the previous year.
As a self-described Democratic socialist, Ocasio-Cortez has been pushing her platform, including a Green Deal and Medicare for All, and faced heavy criticism from conservative heavyweights in response.
She also told The Hollywood Reporter that she was "not sure" why President Donald Trump had never targeted her on social media.
Her theory was that the president realized her skill at leveraging social media, and doesn't want to take her on.
"I think as nuts as this guy is, one thing he does have an expertise in is media and branding and marketing. And I think, I don’t know, maybe he thinks that he’s met his match."
You can read the full Hollywood Reporter interview here.
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