Paulina Mangubat moved to Boston in February of 2021. She’s spent her career working in the political sector and relocated to the city to work on a high profile race: Boston’s upcoming mayoral election. Paulina is the Digital Director on the Michelle Wu campaign. During our conversation, Paulina shared why she was drawn to the Michelle Wu campaign and what got her started in politics.
The mayoral primaries are right around the corner on September 14. No matter who you support, be sure to check if you're registered so you can cast your ballot.
Listen to the full conversation below, or subscribe to our show on Apple Podcast, Google Play, Stitcher, and Spotify.
Transcript
Kaitlin Milliken: Hello, and welcome to the BOSFilipinos Podcast. I'm your host, Kaitlin Milliken, and this show is obviously made by BOSFilipinos.
In each episode of our podcast, we highlight a different aspect of Filipino life in the Greater Boston area. So today we’re to chat with one member of Boston’s Fil-Am community.
Paulina Mangubat moved to Boston this year in February of 2021. She’s spent her career working in the political sector and relocated to the city to work on a high profile race: Boston’s upcoming mayoral election. Paulina is the Digital Director on the Michelle Wu campaign. So she’s writing tweets, filming videos, making TikToks, coordinating signage — and so much more.
During our conversation, Paulina shared why she was drawn to the Michelle Wu campaign and what got her started in politics. She also talked about how growing up in Arizona shaped her perspective.
Thank you so much, Paulina, for chatting today.
Paulina Mangubat: Thank you so much for having me.
Kaitlin Milliken: So just to get started, let's talk a little bit about what brought you to Boston.
Paulina Mangubat: So I moved to Brighton in February to join Michelle Wu’s campaign for mayor. I actually started working for her campaign in January — working remotely. I moved to Boston in February, and have been here ever since working as a digital and creative director.
Kaitlin Milliken: You moved to the area and sort of embedded into the Boston political scene. What has been surprising about that? What has it been like working on the mayoral campaign?
Paulina Mangubat: As a person of color, I think everyone hears certain things about Boston in general, about it being a little bit unwelcoming to people of color. I think that's a stereotype. And so I think that I was a little bit hesitant to move, just hearing all of those things. But honestly, like, after being here for a couple of months, I really enjoy it. I have the added benefit of being able to see the city, from Michelle's point of view, which I think is such a blessing. Because you know, she's been here for so long. She's been so active in the community and in the local political scene. So she knows people in every single neighborhood. She knows all the good restaurants. She knows all the great community centers. And so, I've really gotten to see neighborhoods that, even if I had lived here not working on her campaign for a year, I probably wouldn't have been able to see.
Kaitlin Milliken: It's very cool that you're working on the Michelle Wu campaign. Obviously, she is also Asian American, and has been one of the Boston city councilors at large. What was it that drew you specifically to her campaign in order to promote her message and the things she's working on?
Paulina Mangubat: I think that Michelle is someone who really embodies the full package of what a politician should and also can be. Her family backstory has so many elements that I think other Asian Americans can relate to. Her parents are from Taiwan. She grew up as the interpreter for her parents growing up. She was the eldest in her family, I'm also the eldest in my family, and has had to deal with a lot of real life issues — mental health problems, and just taking care of her family as her mom underwent a mental health crisis and all the cultural barriers and differences that are wrapped up in that. And then on top of that, the political work that she's doing really centers people. I could talk all day about this. I feel very passionately about her. So it's just cool to see the consistency of her leadership, and also just the relatability of her story.
Kaitlin Milliken: When it comes to city and local races, there are a lot of issues specific to an area. What are some of the things that you had to learn about when you took this position and started doing the messaging for this campaign that is, so based in the issues relevant to here?
Paulina Mangubat: I think that there's a lot of specific things that exist in the city, not just specific to Boston, but generally, parts of the city code and how city systems are structured, but no one really knows until you're in it.
Kaitlin Milliken: We do love a good zoning regulation here.
Paulina Mangubat: Right? Yeah. And the other thing is that there's so much history here in Boston, where you're not just talking about buildings, you're talking about buildings that literally have been around for centuries. And so there's a lot of, in addition to meeting the moment, currently now, there's also all of this history that's wrapped up in the buildings and in the bricks that make the buildings and then like the people who built the buildings. I think that that's one thing. And then the other thing is just how much character each neighborhood here in Boston has. I think that most people who live in Boston know that it's representation and media is like, I guess the joke is that it's like The Departed and like Goodwill Hunting.
Kaitlin Milliken: And that's it.
Paulina Mangubat: And that's it.
Kaitlin Milliken: We also had Ted.
Paulina Mangubat: Yes. And Ted.
Kaitlin Milliken: Oh, fever pitch when Jimmy Fallon would act. I think that's not all of them. But that's a lot of them.
Paulina Mangubat: Yes. But then when you come here, you're like, “Oh, like this is what — not to say that every single neighborhood is a monolith — but like, there's so much more than what people see in media.” And it's all extremely specific. And you know, Boston is a relatively small city. I went to college in New York, but each neighborhood feels super alive and distinct. And I thought that was really interesting. And there was a there was a lot to learn and I'm still learning.
Kaitlin Milliken: What's your day look like? What types of things are you doing — platforms, stuff like that?
Paulina Mangubat: Yeah, so I come from a digital background. And what that generally means in campaigns is you're working on email fundraising. You're working in social media, and you're working on digital ads, whether that be fundraising ads, or persuasion ads to get people to hear more about your candidate, and increase their name recognition on this particular campaign, because it is a local race. And we don't have that much staff. It's social media. It's managing our persuasion ad programs to make sure that people are hearing from Michelle. It's working on our print collateral and all of our signs. Anything that has some element of design to it, that has Michelle's name on it, I helped create, and also Michelle loves doing video content. So she has me edit a lot of videos and help her film a lot of videos from her home as well.
Kaitlin Milliken: So what got you interested in being involved in politics since you've been doing that since you graduated from college?
Paulina Mangubat: So I'm originally from Arizona. What's nice about Arizona is I think it's a state that's in transition, like so many other southern states. It has a huge POC population, a huge immigrant population. People tend to think of it as a very conservative place. And so I grew up in a very white neighborhood, going to very white schools, and living kind of both sides of it coming from an immigrant family.
I always knew that there was more to be done, and that I wanted to be part of making whatever city that I was in feel more welcoming. So that's sort of what got it started. Again, because my parents are from the Philippines, I feel like they moved here and they weren't super aware of all the job opportunities that exist in politics. I think that's a pretty common experience for a lot of children of immigrants. Their parents were like, “We moved here so that you could have a better life. And now you want to change how life is here in the States?” You know, it's really just like a desire to make things better for people. Honestly, Arizona made me who I am like, this is why I'm like this.
Kaitlin Milliken: I love that. I feel like hometowns shaped so much of how we experience and see the world. I love to take a deeper dive into your cultural identity. How did you experience your culture as someone who has immigrant parents, parents from the Philippines, while you were living in Arizona?
Paulina Mangubat: The first thing is that I think that there are Filipinos everywhere. For me, growing up in Arizona, even though the communities that I was in were majority white, there was always you know… My parents both work in health care. So they had this huge network of random Filipino friends who they either met in Arizona, or maybe they knew from college, and they had moved to Arizona. And so I was constantly navigating between these spaces that were all Filipino — karaoke with my titas and like all of these parties, and all of that — with my school life, and my let's say like everyday life, where there just weren't other Filipinos around in the spaces. And so that was really interesting to see. And I think the most interesting thing is, my parents are fairly Catholic. And they sent me to Catholic schools, because they were like, “Makes sense.” So there was always that cultural link between the two worlds. And yet, they just didn't seem to crossover at all when I was an either.
Kaitlin Milliken: Yeah, that is super interesting. You mentioned to that — when we chatted before we started recording — you have a lot of family in the Philippines. Did you, prior to the pandemic, find yourself going back and forth a lot?
Paulina Mangubat: So my mom has a really big family. They're ethnically Chinese, but my mom was born and raised in the Philippines. And so there's just a lot of culture happening, both Chinese and Filipino. I, as a kid would go over to the Philippines during the summer to visit my grandparents. I was actually last there right before the pandemic hit for my grandparents 65th wedding anniversary, which was both incredibly fabulous to see very old people still very much in love, but also terrifying because news of COVID was just starting to circulate when I was last there.
I also went to kindergarten there and I feel really blessed that I have had that opportunity because it is sort of like a best of both worlds thing. That being said, my Tagalog is still really bad. So that is the one thing that I didn't get out of it which I probably should have but did not.
Kaitlin Milliken: Are there any cultural values that you kind of bring with you, having spent so much time in touch with the Filipino side of your identity?
Paulina Mangubat: I think that so much of being Filipino is being very welcoming and generous. Whether that be with your time, or with your food, or just generally like a spirit of generosity. I think that in the States, there's so much focus on independence and operating separately from your family. Not really leaning on community supports as much, which is really great and awesome to have. But in the Philippines, it's always making food for people. My mom, I think, was always just super generous with her time, like she showed up to volleyball practices with McDonald's for the entire team. And everyone thought that was kind of strange, but that's super normal, because food is a love language. So yeah, that's what I always say, a spirit of generosity and not minding going out of your way to make someone feel comfortable.
Kaitlin Milliken: Asking where we can see some of the things you've worked on is inherently asking where we can see and learn more about Michelle. So I will ask you, where can we see the things that you're working on for Michelle, which combines both of those questions?
Paulina Mangubat: Well, you can find Michelle Wu on Twitter @wutrain, and on Instagram at @wutrain, on Facebook at Michelle for Boston, and her website is michelleforboston.com. During my tenure as her digital creative director, we also made her a TikTok so you can find her on TikTok @wutrain. And if that's not enough for you, and you want to also hear from me directly, you can follow me on Twitter @paulinaVEVO, because I think I’m funny.
Kaitlin Milliken: Awesome. Thank you so much, Paulina, for taking the time.
Paulina Mangubat: Thank you for having me.
[MUSIC]
Kaitlin Milliken: This has been the BOSFilipinos Podcast. I'm your host, Kaitlin Milliken. Music for our show was made by Matt Garamella. Special thanks to Paulina for joining us. The primaries are right around the corner — September 14th to be exact. No matter who you support, be sure to check if you're registered so you can cast your ballot. If you liked this episode of our show, you can subscribe to the BOSFilipinos Podcast on your streaming platform of choice. You can also follow us on Instagram, @bosfilipinos, to stay connected. If you have ideas of what we should cover, you can let us know at bosfilipinos.com. Thanks for listening and see you soon.