National Domestic Workers Alliance

Ai-jen Poo is the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and codirector of Caring Across Generations. She came to this work after observing the challenges of caregiving for her grandfather, who had suffered a stroke and was placed in a nursing home, sharing a room with six ailing, older people. “The place smelled like mold and death,” she wrote in her book, The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America. Her grandfather died three months later. After graduating from Columbia University in 1996, Poo began organizing domestic workers.

As a thought leader and social innovator, Poo sees the future effects of demographic trends such as a burgeoning elder population that will need care in the future. With the population of U.S. residents over the age of 85 expected to double in the next 20 years, more caregiving will be required. Poo sees how interconnected innovative family care solutions are with how we structure our future workplaces, and how the government will resource and regulate elder care.

“Over and over again, at key turning points, we have invested in the infrastructure needed to thrive as a nation and to lead the safe, productive, and fulfilling lives that as individual Americans we expect to live,” Poo wrote. “And over and over again, these big ideas, and the momentum behind them, not only transformed our lives but also transformed our economy. In fact, in many cases, these investments were our economy, and most certainly saved our economy. An infrastructure for care may seem different from an infrastructure for railroads, highways, electricity, or the Internet. There are no trees to clear or wires to lay. Yet care is among the fundamental building blocks of society. For any of us, thinking about our most basic needs, care always comes first. There’s no need for the Internet, or even electricity, if there’s no way to feed, bathe, or clothe yourself”

In her career, Poo demonstrates both relationship leadership and task leadership. To learn more about the needs of domestic workers, “she spent countless hours in parks, buses, and other gathering places for domestic workers, creating opportunities for these largely isolated women to share their experiences, guiding mistreated workers to appropriate legal channels, articulating the vital economic role of domestic workers, and developing with workers a framework of legal standards for the industry”  By listening to and caring about their experiences, Poo shows respect for domestic workers and acknowledges that their work has inherent dignity.

“There are more than 2.5 million women in the United States who make it possible for us to do what we do every day, knowing that our loved ones and homes are in good hands. They are the nannies that take care of our children, the housekeepers that bring sanity and order to our homes, and the home-care workers that care for our parents and support the independence of our disabled family members,” said Poo

Poo also builds relationships with the domestic workers, learning from them what their needs actually are, and connecting them with others in similar situations, to form a larger sense of identity and community. As the director of the NDWA, Poo has built a culture of trust and empowerment for women. Many of the organization’s staff work remotely, so twice per year they hold a retreat for all employees where they plan together, laugh together, and share stories. “An important part of the time together is connecting on a personal level, not because we need everyone to be friends, but to know one another’s context: Why are you here? What’s your story? Our personal journeys are an endless well of inspiration and resilience,” Poo explains

Poo has built her activist work on this foundation of caring for others. Her task leadership is expressed in several ways. First, she has envisioned ways to organize domestic workers into an effective and unified voice for change. As the director of the NDWA, her core responsibility is to help the organization to reach its goals of educating the public about how domestic labor should be viewed and valued, raising the labor standards for all domestic workers, and training new leaders for the labor movement. Poo does this by staying focused on the mission of the organization, developing programs that support that mission, and hiring and equipping employees to assist in this work: “NDWA centers the voice and leadership of women of color in everything we do”

Second, Poo has organized workers to advocate for legislation that acknowledges and protects domestic workers’ rights. In 2010, New York enacted the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, which entitles workers to overtime pay, one day of rest per week, protection from discrimination, and three days of paid leave per year—after a hard-fought seven-year legislative campaign led by Poo and a dedicated group of workers and advocates. The bill also drew support from an unlikely coalition of domestic workers, their employers, and other unions forged by Poo’s ability to leverage common interests across diverse groups .

Poo received a “genius” grant from the MacArthur Foundation in 2014, and she was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2012 and one of Fortune’s 50 Greatest Leaders in 2015. While her task leadership has received the most recognition, the behavior Poo most attributes to her success is listening. “The best ideas from our organization have come from listening to our members,” she said. “And believe me—when you listen to women, especially to those who have been the least visible in society, you will hear some of the most extraordinary stories that represent the best of who we are as a nation. Listening is a practice; you don’t have to be a natural listener to be a good listener, and it’s something we can, and should, all learn to do”