Jessica Rosenworcel

Meet Congresswoman Grace Meng, the first female member of Congress from Queens, New York since Vice Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro. She's also a member of the Rural Broadband Task Force in the House of Representatives—which you might not expect—because as she notes on the episode, almost 30% of New York City households lack broadband at home. This is a problem for children who need the internet to complete their nightly schoolwork. Listeners will learn about legislation the Congresswoman has proposed to address this problem, known as the Homework Gap, by helping libraries and schools create mobile hotspot lending programs to ensure students can get online at home.

"Librarians are the original search engines." Those are the words of Dr. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress and the featured guest on this episode of Broadband Conversations. Dr. Hayden is the first woman and the first African American to serve as the Librarian of Congress. Under her historic leadership, she is working to ensure that the 171 million items in the Library's collection—from the diaries of Susan B. Anthony to the Gettysburg Address to the papers of Rosa Parks—are open and accessible to all.

Maine is one of the most rural states in the nation. So when it comes to broadband deployment, there are special challenges to ensuring the digital age reaches all. On this episode of Broadband Conversations, listeners will meet Peggy Schaffer, the woman leading the effort at Maine's Broadband Authority to bring internet connectivity, and the economic opportunities that come with it, to every community in the state.

For any entrepreneur, turning a good idea into a business is hard work. But thankfully, small businesses have Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez fighting for them in Congress. As Chairwoman of the Small Business Committee, Congresswoman Velazquez is working to ensure that those who want to create businesses—including women, have every tool at their disposal. On this episode, the Congresswoman describes her historic path to Washington, her commitment to a level playing field, and her hopes for a democratic and inclusive digital future.

For over a year, the FCC has been silent about its investigation into the sale of geolocation data from wireless phones, affecting the privacy of anyone with a smartphone. On this episode listeners will hear not only how Congresswoman Lori Trahan and Commissioner Rosenworcel worked together to address this issue, but they will also hear how Rep. Trahan worked her way up from college volleyball player to CEO to Congresswoman.

The Federal Trade Commission has an important mission—protecting consumers and competition. On today's episode, FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter discusses the ways the FTC carries out its mandate and works on behalf of consumers to protect our privacy and our data. Listeners will also hear her personal story about how as a new mom she employed a BYOB—bring your own baby—policy when she first joined the FTC and why she believes more women and mothers need to be at the table where decisions are being made.

In one week, 193 countries from around the globe will gather in Egypt for the World Radio Communications Conference. On this episode of Broadband Conversations, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel speaks to the woman leading the United States' delegation: Ambassador Grace Koh. She is a dedicated public servant and a spectrum policy expert. She most recently served as Special Assistant to the President for Technology, Telecom and Cyber-Security Policy at the national Economic Council.

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, this episode of Broadband Conversations features Sylvia Acevedo, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA. She is a longtime advocate for STEM education, engineer, and author of "Path to the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist." In her conversation with Commissioner Rosenworcel, Sylvia how it was her own Girl Scout troop leader who noticed her early interest in space and encouraged her to earn a science badge by building a model rocket. That experience led Sylvia down a path to eventually becoming a rocket scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Listeners will also hear how under Sylvia's leadership Girl Scouts are encouraged to take on science, technology, math, and engineering projects and pursue badges in areas like cybersecurity. In fact, as a result of her efforts, during the past six months over 84,000 Girls Scouts have earned cybersecurity badges.

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of Broadband Conversations, we flipped the script and had Commissioner Rosenworcel answer some of our big questions. Listeners will get to hear the Commissioner talk about some of her favorite conversations and also hear her share her story, her advice, and what she hopes for the future of digital life.

In 2016, NASA Astronaut Kate Rubins spent 115 days in space—or as she would say, 115 days "off planet." On this episode of Broadband Conversations, listeners will get to hear Rubins, a biologist by training, describe life on the International Space Station and the process of re-entering life back on Earth. As a NASA astronaut, Rubin's shares how she went from a little girl with a dream to be among the stars to the reality of spending nearly 13 hours of spacewalk time.