RFK SAYS
“Our values didn’t change, but the Democratic Party did,” he said.
Alittle bit about Shanahan
Shanahan, 38, was born in Oakland to a Chinese immigrant mother and a father who suffered from mental illness. In an essay published by People last year, Shanahan wrote that she, as a child, learned that “bad things happen, injustice happens, but there are always tools for overcoming them, it’s a matter of relentless commitment to oneself. I will never stop seeking self-actualization for myself, my family, and for the communities I serve.”
In an interview with Puck published in 2022, Shanahan said her mother came to the United States through family sponsorship and worked as a maid to make ends meet. Shanahan has said that she grew up on welfare, and she told Puck that she “never felt poor” growing up “because I believed the safety nets we had in the ’90s were actually quite good. I lived off them.”
“I survived off them, and dare I say I felt I had the opportunity to thrive,” she said.
Per her LinkedIn page, she received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Puget Sound and her law degree from Santa Clara University.
From 2018 to 2023, Shanahan was married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The two share a daughter.
Last year, Shanahan “committed” to her partner, Jacob Strumwasser, who formerly worked on Wall Street and is now an adviser at a bitcoin engineering firm.
Formerly a tech entrepreneur, Shanahan now works in philanthropy
In the essay for People, Shanahan said she spends most of her time “working for climate solutions, social justice, and women’s reproductive science,” as well as focusing on autism research.
“About two years ago our daughter was diagnosed with autism, and by virtue of that diagnosis I have a new cause to focus attention on (as has been typical of my experiences, I rarely seek out causes to support, they find me),” she wrote in the essay. “… I’ve been working with researchers to understand the variations in autism, the biological markers that might help us diagnose autism earlier, and even what causes autism. It is amazing what we’re learning, and we are already seeing overlaps with the work occurring in reproductive longevity, climate, and social justice.”
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RFK Jr and Shanahan