Director of the Working Families Party in New York Sochie Nnaemeka joined Nation editorial director and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel for an urgent conversation about how and why progressive insurgents can win in November. She discussed the party’s agenda and what she sees as the most critical progressive priorities ahead of the most important election of our lives. Watch the recording below.

The daughter of Nigerian immigrant parents, Nnaemeka was born and raised in New York and attended Yale University, where she began to organize with a local union of cafeteria and custodial workers. This past December, Nnaemeka became the director of the Working Families Party (WFP) in New York, making her the new face of a group with a crucial role in the state’s progressive movement, backing policy reforms and left-wing candidates. Nnaemeka has been organizing for a decade.

She came to the WFP from the Center for Popular Democracy, where she worked with grassroots groups across the country, including Black Leaders Organizing for Communities in Milwaukee and Detroit Action in Michigan. In that role, she cultivated new political leaders and empowered young women of color. As State Director of the Working Families Party, Nnaemeka is wielding her expertise to grow the party into an increasingly potent national outfit.