The former Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacquinda Ardern on a “different type of power” offer

These days, in the local café near Boston, Jacunda Erderon can be just another agent. “I don’t put my name in the arrangement; it’s very complicated!” I laughed.

I asked, “When you ask for coffee here, do people start talking about politics with you?”

“No, not at all,” Erderen answered. In fact, the man behind the counter told me, “Oh, you are really familiar. Oh, I know: Tony Colette! “

This is a moment that will never happen in New Zealand, where Ardren became the youngest government in the world when she was only 37 years old. Now 44, former Prime Minister Erderin has lived in the United States since she left his post two years ago. She works as a colleague at Harvard University, and wrote a new book, “A different type of strength” (To be published on June 3 by the crown).

“I think, I think, there are different ways of driving. But I also hope that some of the character features that we may come with we may think are weaknesses – Antichrist syndrome, or even sympathy – are actually incredible strengths. “

Ardren says her story revolves around finding her voice in New Zealand, a small nation of about five million people. “I have never seen that I became a prime minister at all,” she said.

In fact, her father, Erderen, told she was a “thin -skinned” of politics.

Was it right? “He was completely right!” I laughed. “But I think where you correct it, your sensitivity is your sympathy. And good, do we not need more?”

In New Zealand, the answer was yes. Before the 2017 elections, Erderon suddenly became the leader of the Left Labor Party in her country. Weeks after winning, I issued an advertisement: She was pregnant. Her journey, along with her partner at the time, her husband now, Clark, soon won her global interest.

Was it comfortable with the symbolism of her role? “I realized the importance of this when I received a letter from someone on his way to work to tell his boss that they were giving birth, and they felt nervous and Be a mother.

But those cheerful early days followed challenges. In 2019, Group shooting targeting Muslims in Kreystech He left more than 50 dead – a crucible for New Zealand, and an invitation to work for its leader: Prohibition.

I asked: “Why do you and your colleagues in New Zealand be able to achieve arms control reform in the wake of a terrible mass shooting, but often here in the United States, it was difficult to obtain such legislative changes?”

“I can’t talk to the United States experience, but if we really want to say,” we never want this to happen again, “we needed to show what we were doing to make this reality.”

But even after winning other elections, things were not easy. As the epidemic passed, tensions erupted on its government’s policies. In 2023, when she surprised many of the resignation decision, She wore her heart on her sleeveWith Parliament’s news: “You can be the student who studys a lot, cold, and hugs, you can be all these things, not just you can be here, you can lead, just like me.”

Although she left his position, she did not stop monitoring our troubled relationships. When he was asked, Ardern was asked: What was taken by President Trump and his decisions on trade and foreign policy, “You know, we see people suffer from deep financial insecurity, and it must be addressed by political leaders. But I still bear the ideas of isolation, protectionism or closing ourselves to treat the issue in reality no Treat it in the long run, and it has a long -term negative impact on some collective issues that we need to address as a global community. “

Currently, ARDERN is not oscillating to return to politics, but it settles in its new nature – that is, being just an ordinary family. “

And when she is asked to advice – in a classroom at Harvard University, or from a global leader – Jacquinda Ardren tells them to be cute: “This is the principle of kindness, it is something that our children teach. Why should we not be a role model, in fact, in reality, we get to know politics? See more of that.”

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A story produced by Sarah Kogle. Editor: Joseph Frandino.