Its an apt metaphor for how Gisele operates in the world.
We meet up on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Philadelphias Elixr Coffee.
This is not a woman who expects her staffers or people interviewing her to be gofers.
When youre kind, it feels good, says Gisele, the wife of Pennsylvania Senatecandidate John Fetterman.
It takes so much energy to be awful.
I met a woman in the rest stop on the way here, in Valley Forge, she says.
I said, Sure, whats going on?
The woman, Linda, was going on her first date since her husband died a decade ago.
Shed bought an armful of new cosmetics for the occasion and was flustered.
I want to know how the date went!
says Gisele, whod latertweet about it, hoping someone could put them back in touch.
This, I learn, is par for the course.
People she works with.
Voters she speaks with at rallies.
Locals who donate time to the midterm races.
Shes so caring and so kind.
Stakes couldnt be higher: Pennsylvania has been calledone of the most crucial swing statesin the upcoming election.
Voters here elected Donald Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.
Gisele, whos 40, was born Gisele Barreto Almeida in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
She spent her adolescence undocumented and under strict instructions by her mom to be invisible.
Her story of meeting John is one she tells often on the stump.
She wrote a letter to Fetterman in 2007, offering to visit and volunteer.
He accepted and, as she tells it, fell madly in love with me.
They married a year later.
She may be new on the national stage, but to most Pennsylvanians, Giseles no stranger.
Fetterman served as mayor from 2006 to 2019, when he was elected lieutenant governor.
Then came his Senate bid.
And, this spring,the strokethat threw everything into chaos.
His face drooped on one side for a moment.
But shes said many times its not her thing.
I would never be in politics.
I think politics is terrible, she says.
But I can make change in other ways.
Ive had folks say, You dont look like an undocumented person.
These are teachable moments, in her view, but that doesnt mean they dont hurt.
In 2020, a woman approached Gisele in her local grocery store and began yelling racial slurs.
The Fettermans opted not to.
The optimal outcome to this scenario lies in a way forward and away from hate, Gisele tweeted.
Its far from the only time shes dealt with racism in her own community.
For years, everyone thought I was the nanny, she says.
When I was out with my kids, people regularly would say, Whose kids are they?
One story that stands out for her is from a book-signing party they hosted.
It was catered, so we had people passing food around, and my house was full of people.
I said, hey dont, because I dont want to get fired.
You have to admire this level of cool-headedness.
And she came over, mortified.
And we had a glass of wine together, and we had a conversation about it.
It doesnt always end up like that, but often, it does.
I think we have to not be scared to have these conversations, or things will never change.
It became a running joke.
You cant be around politics without some humor, she tells me, because it would be intolerable.
But he and Gisele opened the mansions pool to the public that summer.
Swimming comes with a painful legacy of racial segregation.
The lessons of Giseles life dovetail with many of her husbands central issues.
Her influence has been widespread in Braddock and surrounding areas.
On the Fettermans fourth wedding anniversary, she asked her husband for an unorthodox present: a shipping container.
In 2013, Braddock residents began noticing new street signs around town: Eat more vegetables.
This was a Gisele-created initiative called Positively Parking.
We wanted to counter those with signs spreading cheer and kindness.
Since 2017, shes channeled her activism into For Good PGH, co-founded with her friend Kristen Michaels.
More recently, their Hollander Project hosts 13 local, woman-run businesses in a previously abandoned building in Braddock.
Even amid the campaign, Giseles still managing two days a week at the Free Store.
She has a steady supply of volunteers Ive even heard theres a waitlist to be one.
One wasAntwon Rose, the 17-year-old boy shot to death by Pittsburgh police in 2018.
All my heroes are women, says Gisele, who hears regularly on the campaign trail aboutreproductive rights.
That, says Gisele, was really hard to hear.
To see women scared is particularly unsettling.
Her predominant reaction to the hate and bigotry directed at John recently is not anger, she says.
These people are carrying so much sadness inside of them, she says of online and IRL trolls.
Thats why theyre this way.
And knowing that helps me cope; it helps me not take it so personally.
Still, since the stroke, its been hard, Michaels says.
To me, its a story of triumph, right?
We could be having such a positive conversation around disability, around strokes.
Im so proud of him.
He didnt get to heal in private, like most people do.
He had to heal with the world watching.
NBC said, We were happy to do it, Gisele says.
Its not a favor.
I want to see something change, she says.
I want people to learn from this.
A lot of the folks criticizing John, they have glasses, right?
Thats also an accommodation, she says.
Gisele has been upfront about her ownADHD diagnosis, which she received two years ago at age 38.
For me, its a superpower.
It allows me to do so many things.
Later in our talk, shell look behind me at a car pulling into a spot and cringe.
He needs help parking hes going to hit that motorcycle.
she says with a laugh.
She says her son August is a lot like she was as a kid.
At school, he has a wiggly chair, and hes doing amazing, because he gets to move.
Its a very simple accommodation, but it makes his life better.
I wish I could be wiggling inthischair!
I finally felt seen, says Gisele of getting her diagnosis.
I think people want to be seen.
(I do.)
She insists we take a photo together, which she immediately texts to Alvine.
Shes just an incredible woman, Alvine tells me on the phone later.
Her personal story is wonderful.
The work shes doing is everything I admire and believe in.
I dont know how many generations shes seeded, Alvine says.
She gives them out to friends.
Sunflowers are always looking for the sun, and so am I.
This article was originally published onNovember 1, 2022
