It’s no secret that Marilyn Mosby is a boss.
The Boston native made history earlier this year when she won her re-election to serve another term as Baltimore State’s Attorney. It was the first time the city’s top prosecutor was re-elected in a dozen years.
When asked what she’d tell her younger self in order to get ahead in her career, Mosby surprisingly turned personal.
“I’m going to get real,” she said during the Dope Black Girls Brunch hosted by Color Vision and Black Girls Vote inside The Hamilton in Washington, D.C.
Mosby was joined by other panelist, Stefanie Brown James, co-founder of the Collective Pac, along with moderator Dr. Wendy Osefo, MSNBC political analyst and professor at John Hopkins University.
The state’s attorney then recalled an incident with her now-husband, Nick J. Mosby, who’s a member of the Maryland House of Delegates.
“My dad at one point — when I was 19 years old — we went to dinner with my then-boyfriend, but soon to be fiancé and he had imparted this knowledge into my husband and just said, ‘I need you to do her right. You don’t understand how much power you have,'” Mosby recalled.
“And I was like, ‘Pfft! He don’t have no power over me! I’m pro-woman! I’m a feminist! He’s just a man,'” she remembers telling her father.
But Mosby, who was first elected to be the state attorney back in November 2014, had to admit that marrying Nick was an important part of her success story.
“A lot of that confidence starts with the men that we choose to love,” she said to applause. “You want somebody who is going to push you beyond your own self-expectations. When you get tired, he’s like, ‘No! Get up baby. We got this.’ When you get like, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ he’s like, ‘I got your back!’ And he’ll step up and do it for you.”
Still, Mosby issued a caveat to the women at the Dope Black Girls Brunch, held in honor of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundations’ Annual Legislative Conference. She reminded them that although partners play an important role in a woman’s life, they’re not the definitions of success.
“And yeah they don’t define us, they’re drawn to our confidence, and our ability, and our intelligence, and our beauty, but at the same time, guys, we are an example for others that are looking at you and are proud at what you’er doing and what you’re accomplishing,” she said. “Make sure you’re choosing the right partner.”
Got it, ladies?
