Making Public Policy Personal with Anna Lenaker (AB '19, MPA '20) - a podcast by Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University

After getting a master’s degree in public affairs at Watson, it’s common for folks to work in government, or with an NGO, or on a political campaign. Less common is what Anna Lenaker, from the Watson MPA class of 2020, did after graduating. She wrote a memoir.

The book, titled ‘Able to Be Otherwise,’ tells the story of Anna’s turbulent childhood, growing up with a mother who suffered from overlapping struggles with mental health, poverty, and addiction. On this episode Sarah talks with Anna about her at-times-unbelievable journey from the streets of Tijuana, to fire-ravaged forests of California, to the halls of Brown University. In telling this story, she also provides a powerful argument for how we might re-envision the role of public policy in an interconnected world.

You can learn more about -- and purchase -- ‘Able to Be Otherwise’ here:

[https://www.amazon.com/Able-Be-Otherwise-Anna-Lenaker-ebook/dp/B093TTHW8G/]

[https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/able-to-be-otherwise-anna-lenaker/1139385749?ean=9781636767192]

You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yhc-gNuF9X4hxLAirVNuBglbCXC5SPky/view?usp=sharing]

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