Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC for short, is one of the most talked-about politicians in recent history.
In fact, behind President Trump, she might very well be the representative that’s activated the most attention of late.
However, what most people don’t see behind the gold hoop earrings and the red lipstick is her hard fought rise to the top. She has an incredible backstory that turned her into the powerful leader you see today.
Let’s dive into this Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez bio and the little known details about her rise to leadership as the U.S. Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district.
It’s a great reminder that behind every well-known person is a magnificent story.
Early Life of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was born in New York on October 13th, 1989, making her 30 years old at the time of this writing. She and her family were living in a rough part of town where AOC herself claims “the zip code determined my destiny”.
Seeing that early on, her parents decided to make a change, moving their family to Yorktown Heights.
Now living in a heavily-caucasian part of town, her mom took up a job cleaning the houses of local big-ballers while her dad started his own architecture business. They took these jobs to make as great of a living for their children as possible.
However, they didn’t want their kids to wind up with the same occupations as they had.
Alexandria was known for her nerdiness. She was a bookworm as a child who was fascinated by science and all the preparation that went into it.
Because of her excellent reputation as a student and her high GPA, she was able to enroll in Boston University, where she pursued a major in Biochemistry.
The Passing of AOC’s Father
As many people do, AOC remembers taking life for granted until one of the most important people in her life was taken from her.
While she was still in college, her father was diagnosed with lung cancer. He passed away from it in 2008, but before he did, he had one request for AOC. All he said was for her to “make him proud”.
In her biography, AOC counts that as a turnaround point for her life in several different ways.
First, she saw a need to take up a job as a waitress in order to assist her mother (who was now the only moneymaker in the family).
Change in Majors
The sudden need for support and the harsh situation that their entire family was put through after her father’s death was the ignition in AOC’s passion for politics. Her mother claims that their circumstances led her to do something to change it.
The big struggle that they had to embrace was her father not having health insurance during the family’s biggest time of need. Then, when he passed, he did not have a will in place.
Because of that, the entire family was placed in a financially-distressed situation that AOC says was nearly impossible to climb out of.
After noticing this injustice, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decided to put the Biochemistry major to the side and switch to a major in Economics and International Relations. She eventually graduated with those in 2011.
In order to fulfill her dad’s wishes of making him proud, AOC honed-in on her school work and her job to provide for her family, making the Dean’s List and helping lessen the load for her mother.
That excellence in her political major is what would help her overthrow and unseat Joe Crowley as the representative of New York’s 14th district several years later.
During her years at Boston University, AOC met her long-time boyfriend, Riley Roberts, at a weekly student discussion group hosted by the school’s dean.
Becoming a Democratic Representative
AOC has stated several times that she never envisioned herself becoming a politician down the line.
She states that she never liked the idea of getting involved in politics and all that comes along with it. However, her need and desire to serve people and help with injustices is what ultimately inspired her to take action.
Alexandria made the decision to oppose a man that hadn’t had opposition for his seat in 14 years or so, Joe Crowley.
That was no small task. Crowley was the heir-apparent to Nancy Pelosi, heavily endorsed by most New York Democrats and a top Democrat within the House of Representatives.
In other words: She was David, and Crowley was Goliath.
So… how was AOC able to overcome such defying odds? With a level of hard work and dedication that Crowley wasn’t willing or able to match.
She went door to door and made thousands of cold calls to local citizens pitching her solutions to local issues.
The breakthrough finally came when Joe Crowley was nowhere to be found for a local community debate between himself and AOC. She spent that entire debate without Crowley ever appearing.
Standing Her Ground
AOC’s legendary rise to a Democratic Representative seat has led many people to ask whether she’s interested in running for President one day.
However, Alexandria has turned down those speculations saying “Never.” She claims that she “wants to be Bernie Sanders, but never run for President”.
She wants to keep her voice and bring social issues and injustices to the attention of Congress. Nothing more, nothing less. Her moral code has gained her a huge following on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Use This Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Bio as Inspiration
Now that you’ve consumed this inspiring Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez bio, take heart in the lessons that you can learn. As AOC reminds us, everyone has the potential to catalyze powerful change in the world.
What do you find most inspirational about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Let me know in the comments below.
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