Samantha Vang on Politics, Leadership, and Why People Shouldn’t Underestimate Her
By Priscilla Gamez & Macy Yang
News
Hmong Women in Leadership is a series ofarticles highlighting inspirational and influential Hmong women in politics.
MINNESOTA—At the age of 23, Samantha Vang was the secondyoungest to be elected to the state legislature. Rep. Vang was the first of twoHmong American women elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2018,along with Rep.Kaohly Vang-Her. Samantha has been reelected every two years since, representingthe states District 38B which covers parts of the cities of Brooklyn Center andBrooklyn Park.
The first in her family to graduate from college, Samantha earneda Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science and Communication fromGustavus Adolphus College. She speaks Japanese and initially sought a career in foreign service.
Her parents were refugees from Thailand arriving in the1990s during the ""third wave” of Hmong refugees. The oldest daughter of fivechildren, Samantha was born and raised in north Minneapolis in what she describedas a low-income neighborhood.
She sees both her parents as instrumental in her success. ""Theyboth worked hard to support their kids,” she said. Adding that, ""Loving yourchildren is a privilege, there are a lot of kids out there who don't get lovefrom their parents. I was lucky to have very loving parents.” Her father,especially, supported her education.
Early Politics
She first set foot in politics during high school as a campaignvolunteer. ""Ever since that first campaign it really opened my eyes to thestate of politics and how invisible we are in politics,” she tells Hmong DailyNews.
Her youth and being a woman of color demonstrated challengesfor her in the beginning of her career, she describes.
Before constituents knew her and accepted her, she said, somewere ""fairly rude” and had she been a white man, she felt that wouldn’t have happenedat all.
Despite criticisms, the representative focused on what she thoughtreally mattered, which was making sure she did a good job and that helped her staygrounded and focused on what's important. ""You definitely let your work speakfor itself,” she concluded about her critics.
""People underestimate me, and I don't let it bother meanymore,” she laments. ""I just tell myself, just wait until you know who Ireally am then you will see I am very capable.”
Leadership
Her track record speaks for itself. During her third term election, she received strong district support sweeping 73% of district votes.
Samantha has held several leadership positions since first being elected. She served asSpeaker Pro Tem, former co-chair of the state’s People of Color and Indigenous (POCI)Caucus as well as co-founded the Minnesota Asian Pacific Caucus, and currently servesas the Chair of Agriculture Finance and Policy, Environment and NaturalResources Finance and Policy, Higher Education Finance and Policy, and LegacyFinance.
The representative explains that her priorities as the Chairof Agriculture are focused on ""supporting small and emerging farmers” which includeyoung black and brown farmers in urban areas who are not the traditionalfarmers. White, older farmers represent most farms and account for more than 99%of farms today, she explained.
Many diverse farmers struggle to get into the farmingbusiness and are often overlooked. ""A lot of my work really has been ondiversifying the industry and supporting farmers who often lack support,” said therepresentative. In doing so, she explainedthat she was able to create a program for small farmers, in 2022, that wouldhelp farmers buy and own land.
""A lot of the small farmers rent their land from bigger farmersand that hurts the ability [for small farmers] to have sustainable farmingoperations. I established a program that really helps them buy land. It’s modeledafter homeownership like, first time home buyers down payment assistance, soinstead of buying your first home, it's buying your first farmland,” said the representative.
Samantha adds that under the program, small farmers are offereda grant of up to $15,000 to purchase land. For starters, it may only be one ortwo acres but it’s the start of land ownership for many small farmers unable toown land.
Samantha hopes to be able to add an additional $1 million tothe program.
Work and Life Balance
Work and life balance is challenging for the young trailblazerbut there’s nothing more challenging after going through the COVID-19 pandemicand government shut down, she said.
""It's always a challenge to continually build relationshipswith people. I think that is such a key and critical role in the work that wedo. Building relationships not only with our colleagues but also with ourcommunities, advocates, and stakeholders. You always must be mindful of thepeople that we make decisions about.”
Samantha feels that ethnicity and gender plays a big role increating those relationships and, ""there are definitely some dynamics andnuances in doing that.”
Outside of work, she loves to karaoke, and she was recentlya foster dog mom.
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