Quiet leader runs Boston's City Council

A former student of US Senator Elizabeth Warren while at the law school, Wu worked as the constituency director for Warren's 2012 campaign. She coordinated outreach to all constituency groups, including communities of color, the LGBT community, veterans and women.

"I saw how important politics is and how a campaign that ran differently from usual can bring a lot more people into the political process," said Wu. "We talked about the campaign with many groups who were usually not involved, seeing that people really do want to participate."

After deciding to run for the post of at-large councilor for the city council, Wu built a team of multi-language speakers (she speaks not only Mandarin, but also Spanish), and went into Boston communities to meet people.

Boston has a population of about 656,000, and an Asian population of about 59,000, according to statistics.

Wu said the Asian-American community was important to her campaign. Some from the community volunteered to help her raise money and put up election signs. "They really helped get my name recognition up," said Wu.

In 2013, she was elected a Boston City councilor at-large. Boston Globe columnist Adrian Walker wrote that her success was easy to understand: "She was smart, had a strong grasp of the issues, and campaigned like crazy."

As a freshman councilor, Wu didn't take much time before bringing up major legislation and creating new programs.

She kept drawing on personal experiences for policy ideas. Being the first Boston councilor to give birth while serving in office, Wu pushed legislation to give some city workers six weeks of paid parental leave after the birth or adoption of a child.

According to the Globe, the measure caught the attention of President Barack Obama, who said in a Labor Day speech in Boston that the city should be "proud of what you're doing for working families".

She also worked on a measure that guarantees that transgender municipal employees and their dependents have access to gender reassignment surgery, hormone therapy and mental health services. And she helped to lift Boston's ban on bring-your-own-bottle to support small local restaurants.

"I try to remember what it is like outside government and make changes that can help people with the challenges and struggles that they are facing," said Wu.

When she ran for re-election to the council, Wu focused on early childhood education and mental health. She was re-elected in 2015. She has been a favorite of progressives and young voters, wrote Walker.

After being re-elected, Wu said she thought about what she wanted to see in the next council president and realized that her own track record was a match.

"I decided to run for council president," said Wu, mother of a 1-year-old boy.

"I think that the leader of the council should be highlighting the work the council is doing. For the last two years, I've been publicizing a newsletter about all the things we talk about at the council, and I set up a website so people could keep track of those issues."

The 12 other members of the council voted for her.

"You always hear about the new Boston versus the old Boston," Councilor Salvatore LaMattina told the Globe last November. "We need to get rid of that and just be one Boston. And Michelle is the one to do that. She'll be an awesome city council president."

Bill Linehan, the former council president, told the newspaper that Wu earned his vote because she is thoughtful and sticks to her decisions, even under duress.

Wu made history for Boston, and also gave Asian-American children one more role model to look up to, said Zhao Gang, a Chinese immigrant. Zhao and his friends initiated the group Friends of Michelle Wu, raising money and calling on new immigrants from China to vote for her.

"Unlike some very outspoken and attention-seeking politicians, Michelle possesses many great qualities of Chinese. She is quiet and polite, and she does more than she says, and that's what makes our Chinese community so proud," Zhao told China Daily.

Wu has been invited to speak to many young people at Mandarin schools in the Boston area, and Zhao said she has encouraged children to embrace their heritage and dream big.

"We all face stereotypes, assumptions people will make about us. It's a matter of being aware of that and being confident in your own ability to lead," Wu said.

"I'm aware of the fact that I don't look like what many people expect a leader to look like. I'm not very tall. I'm not very loud, but I know I'm still an effective leader. My leadership involves more collaboration and more focus on issues, and I'm comfortable with that."

hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com