Page 40 - BEQ Magazine Iss 19

Big Voice
Big Voice

SHARICE D A VIDS ’

By MELISSA LOWERY

so far, from talkative kid to member of the United
States House of Representatives.
This picture book autobiography celebrates two
significant “firsts” - Davids (D-KS) is one of the first
two Native American women elected to Congress and
the first openly LGBTQ+ congressperson to represent
Kansas in Washington.
Davids is the daughter of a single mother and
a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation. Becoming
Representative Davids was a journey with “tons of
twists and turns and ups and downs”, a winding
path she wanted to write about to give young people
another perspective about their own journeys.
“I never thought I was going to be a member
of Congress,” she said. “I’m sure people think I was
valedictorian of everything but that wasn’t my

BEQ Pride “ think in stories,” Sharice Davids said experience. That’s why I share some of the stories like
the ones in the book.”
Publisher For example, it took Davids eight years to earn
ROBIN when we met via Zoom recently. “I
DILLARD and I make a lot of analogies and share her Bachelor’s degree before going on to Cornell Law
Editor in Chief School.
MELISSA stories to illustrate a point.” “The interesting thing is, that’s actually not
LOWERY an uncommon experience,” she noted. “It’s not
interview Rep . We were delighted to catch up with Davids, a
SHARICE uncommon for people to take longer than four years
DAVIDS member of the BEQ Pride 40 LGBTQ Leaders Under to get a degree. But people don’t get to see that as
about her new 40 Class of 2021, to talk about her latest project: a often because those aren’t the stories getting shared
children’s book . children’s book. Sharice’s Big Voice: A Native Kid widely.”
Becomes a Congresswoman, the story of her journey Representation is at the heart of Davids’ work both

40 SUMMER 2021 BUSINESSEQUALITYMAGAZINE.COM