On most days during Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s widely watched televised briefings on the coronavirus crisis, Melissa DeRosa, New York's first female secretary to the governor, can be seen sitting next to him.
On most days during Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s widely watched televised briefings on the coronavirus crisis, Melissa DeRosa, New York's first female secretary to the governor, can be seen sitting next to him .
In a wide-ranging interview, DeRosa, who also chairs the state’s Council on Women and Girls, discussed her experiences with sexual harassment, gender bias, working to advance policy with a feminist mindset and dealing with questions about members of her family working as lobbyists. “The thing that you learn when you're going through this process is that if you have to take the extraordinary step of doing IVF , it is very expensive – to the tune of $20,000 or somewhere in that range,” she said. “Having fertility issues is a medical problem, right? I was outraged by it personally, and in my opinion, if this was about a man's ability to reproduce, then insurance companies would have figured out long ago how to cover it.
DeRosa, who joined the Cuomo administration as director of communications in 2013 and was promoted to chief of staff in 2015, is credited with being the force behind several of the governor's key legislative victories, such as paid family leave, a $15 minimum wage, the IVF/egg freezing insurance coverage requirement and free college tuition.
Since its establishment, the state Council on Women and Girls has taken up issues such as maternal mortality in the African-American community and created a pilot program to provide doulas to women going through childbirth, as well as expanding access to venture capital for women-led companies. “Melissa worked to make things happen. Not loudly by pounding on a podium, but behind the scenes to make sure that IVF coverage was included in the governor’s Women’s Justice Agenda,” said Levine. “And then in the governor’s budget.”U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., recalls joining political forces as a sixth-grader with DeRosa, then an eighth-grader at the Albany Academy for Girls.
“I was 4 years old and my father would take me to rallies. I have pictures of myself marching in parades for Louise Slaughter. We used to go door to door,” said DeRosa. “I was exposed to politics and campaigning from a very, very young age and I just fell in love with it immediately. I was hooked.” "My father went into this line of work nearly 30 years ago, and I have been involved in government and politics for a decade and a half,” said DeRosa in an email. “I have fully complied with the Public Officers Law recusal policy for years and worked with JCOPE to ensure the highest standards are met to avoid even the appearance of impropriety."
The union was preparing to endorse Clinton, gaming out what the campaign was going to look like, how they would organize and what tactics they would use. “I loved moving around the state and setting up press conferences and gaming out who could be the people against this and how to get out in front of them, pitching the editorial boards, regionalizing data and how to make the best argument,” said DeRosa. “We won. And something about politics that I love is election day comes and there's a winner and a loser.”
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