La Porte, Ind. Mayor Blair Milo admitted she doesn’t quite have a plan for future positions in her career.
Last time she did, she thought she would find herself working in Washington, D.C., not serving as the head of a local government.
Milo explained her unusual career path to the College Republicans at IU on Monday night as part of the group’s annual Women in Politics event.
Before she was elected at age 28 as mayor of the city she calls “the Hub of Awesome,” Milo served five years in the Navy and said she hoped to begin a career in D.C. focusing on national policy.
She was already out on the east coast, thinking she would work in politics but never become an elected official.
That changed when she found out her hometown was nearing bankruptcy, Milo said. She wrote pieces for a local paper, using her budgeting experiences from the Navy to offer solutions.
At first, Milo said she continued to deny the possibility of running for office, but one day on the D.C. Metro, she realized she could implement the changes she thought needed to be put in place.
“Maybe there was a reason why I was given these opportunities, that I could apply them to try and help my community,” Milo said.
Milo is now in her second term as mayor of La Porte, fixing budgets and taking on a wellness campaign that encourages citizens to stay active.
She advocates for women to follow her lead and encourages them to overcome the stereotypes often given to women in politics. On average, women have to be asked three times before agreeing to run for office, Milo said.
“I hope that you consider this to be one of those three times, that I am asking all of you to consider getting involved in an elected capacity, because we need good people,” Milo said. “We need dedicated people who have enough interest in the direction of our cities, state, country, world that you’re willing to come out on a hideous Monday evening to listen to me speak. We need more people like you.”
Milo said countries like Afghanistan, often considered to be less progressive, has a larger percentage of women in government than the United States.
This could be because of the differences in the ways boys are raised versus the ways girls are raised, Milo said. She believes young girls are not told often enough that they can be involved in government and run for office.
“We don’t really have those conversations a lot of times with girls growing up, so it’s not a thought process that regularly occurs,” Milo said.
Reagan Kurk, College Republicans chair, took notes throughout the meeting on Milo’s insights.
She said Milo is one of her role models because of the way the mayor maintains a commitment to service and her community despite a polarized political climate all across the country, which Kurk hopes to emulate.
“I really look up to her and the way she serves everyone around her,” Kurk said.
Just like Milo, Kurk said she also hopes to encourage more women to become politically involved and raise their participation across the board.
“It’s always good when we get a diverse opinion and a diverse perspective,” Kurk said. “When you get more women involved, it’s going to be better all around.”
