Ai-jen Poo cares passionately about the care economy, meaning the labor of looking after another human being whether that's a child, someone with a disability, or an older adult. She is a key force in the coalition Caring Across Generations.
A shaker and mover in the labor world, Poo is the head of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. She was also a 2014 recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, sometimes referred to as the "genius grant."
Poo is in Honolulu to give a talk Thursday at the University of Hawaiʻi as part of the Better Tomorrow Speaker Series.
She reflected on how far we've come in acknowledging health care workers, family caregivers, and the future of work — and we can thank the pandemic for that. Poo said she hopes Hawaiʻi will be the next state to launch a paid family and medical leave program.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Nov. 8, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
