PLP 08 Profile: Claire Wulf Winiarek

Name: Claire Wulf Winiarek
Age: 22
Born: Norfolk, Virginia
Current Digs: Hampton Roads, Virginia
Occupation: Serving the people of the great and beautiful Second Congressional District of Virginia! (Grants and Projects Coordinator for Congresswoman Thelma Drake)
Favorite part about the job: Working for the people, and developing new and innovative ways to serve the public
Your first job ever? "Dining Hall Assistant" (a.k.a. kitchen cleaner) at Girl Scout Camp Skimino in Williamsburg, Virginia -- A thankless and dirty job
Favorite book?  Most people might say Machiavelli's The Prince or Sir Thomas Moore's Utopia, but my favorite go-to book time and again is any of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter... Series.  I will confess, however, to a slight obsession with George Orwell's works, particularly Animal Farm.
Favorite movie? Silence of the Lambs
Comfort food? My mother's and grandmother's Southern cooking, particularly their country ham biscuits, fried chicken, collards, potato salad, and Lemon Meringue pie.  Yum!
What's in your car CD player right now? Paramore, Riot!
Next journey?  Next serious journey?  Hopefully Greece or Spain or Argentina -- My husband and I are planning a two-week adventure abroad for 2009 with the in-laws.
Favorite Virginia vacation spot? Driving up Skyline Drive and through the very beautiful Shenandoah National Park, stopping for some hiking, fishing, sight-seeing, and canoeing on the South Fork of the mighty Shenandoah.
First political memory? Campaigning door-to-door with former Norfolk Delegate William P. "Billy" Robinson, Jr.
Whom do you admire and why? The late Julia Childs, who showed that you can make a difference and become an inspiration by pursuing what you love (in her case, cooking).  Before becoming the America's original TV cooking icon and foodie, Childs served her country in the OSS (precursor to today's CIA) and turned to cooking after her husband was stationed in Paris with the Foreign Service.
Best advice you ever got? "Yes, I can!" (from my mother, and often repeated by everyone from Stewart Copeland to Barack Obama) Before I started college at fourteen, I interviewed with an area private high school.  I told them that I had two options, early college or attend their high school.  The admissions advisor asked me why would I ever want to go to college so early, since it was surely be a negative experience and too difficult.  My response was, "Because I can."  As it turns out, this "high school drop out" could and did.
If you could have dinner with any one currently living, whom would it be and why?  Dr. Henry Kissinger, who dominated US Foreign Policy during one of the most interesting and turbulent periods (1969 to 1977) of American involvement abroad, including the relaxation of US-Soviet tensions, temporary ceasefire and eventual end of conflict in Vietnam, Indo-Pakistan and Yom Kippur Wars, and the opening of China.
Describe a perfect day. A perfect day would start by waking up to a quiet morning, enoying the start of the day with a cup of coffee and the careful division of the Wall Street Journal between my husband and I.  Afterwards, the two of us would embark on an unplanned roadtrip down the east coast, cooler in tow, to nowhere, hopefully ending up at a dock-side restaurant for some delicious seafood.
One thing most people might be surprised to learn about you?  I am passionate about international human rights issues, and worked for Amnesty International's Mid-Atlantic District office in Washington, D.C. as their Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region Coordinator for a little over a year.
Ambition, political or otherwise? I hope to one day become a positive role model for young women facing obstacles in pursuing their dreams.  Oh, and politically -- Secretary of State.