在政客稀少的美国华人社会，政府中的华人女性力量几乎难以寻觅。赵小兰从上世纪八十年代开始，一路从美国花旗银行的职员做到了交通部副部长，随后在布什总统任内担任劳工部长，如今重回交通领域，担任特朗普政府的交通部部长。

作为一名华人女性，少数族群与女性在政坛所面临的玻璃天花板（glass ceiling），她当然都有遇到。

人们会问，女人能管理好政府事务吗？亚裔的小孩读书是很厉害，但是适合当一个领导者吗？面对这些问题，赵小兰用行动给出了答案。

2013年，在央视《开讲啦》节目上，她做了一次以职业为主题的演讲。

演讲开头，她就提出了自己从政的三点原因：

I want to make my parents proud.

我想让爸妈为我骄傲。

I always wanted to work for a bigger purpose than just for myself.

我一直都想做些意义深远的事，而不是只顾自己。

I always wanted to be able to contribute and to help other people.

我一直都希望能够做些贡献，帮助他人。

谈到刚从学校毕业的时候，她说：

When I graduated from school, I had very simple goals.

我从学校毕业的时候，目标很简单。

One is to get a job. Two, it is basically to get an apartment. So I can be independent.

第一，找一份工作，第二，找到一间公寓住，这样我就可以独立起来。

说到职业目标，她坦言自己年轻时并没有设定具体的职业目标，而且还认为，现在看来，这是一件好事。

因为在那个年代，放眼望去，华人女性从事的工作大多与从政无关，如果在设定目标时受到眼前的因素影响，或许她也不会走到今天。

谈到成功的秘诀，她说：

So when I talk about my career, you know, each of the step was very interesting. But I never planned for it. It just happened. Because I was hard-working, I was always trying to do more than what was asked of me, and people noticed when the opportunity has came, my name always came to the surface, always came to the top.

每当我说到自己的职业历程，其实，每一步都很有意思。但我从来没计划过，就这么顺其自然发生了。（我想）是因为我工作很刻苦，一直努力超额完成任务，然后机会来的时候，别人就会注意到我，我的名字就会第一个被他们想到。

在随后的问答环节，撒贝宁替观众问了一个问题：

撒贝宁：您的丈夫麦康纳先生是政府的参议员，您是（劳工）部长，您俩谁的权力更大？

赵小兰：I was.

我权力更大。

撒贝宁：您的权力更大？

赵小兰：There are only 17 of us and a hundred of him.

我们部长只有17个，但是他们参议员有100个。

撒贝宁：所以在家里，谁领导谁呢？（观众笑）

赵小兰：He takes care of inside the house. I take care of outside the house.他主内，我主外。

撒贝宁：中国人有句俗语，叫“女主内，男主外”，您家里是反过来的。

赵小兰：Yes.

赵小兰和丈夫米奇·麦康纳（Mitch McConnell）

现场还发生了一件有趣的事，问答环节中有8位青年嘉宾可以提问，巧合的是前两位被点名起来提问的都是男生，这时候，赵小兰问撒贝宁：

赵小兰：Why there are two boys asking, there should be a girl in there asking. Go ahead.

为什么两个都是男生提问，应该来个女生提问，你继续。

撒贝宁：因为我们这里问问题的顺序是以他的问题水平好坏排序的，好问题在后面。

赵小兰：Very skillfully said.

圆得很好。

节目接近尾声，她说：

If I ever thought that I was female, that I was too young, that I was a minority that I could not do any of these things, I wouldn’t get up in the mornings.

如果我之前想着自己是女人，太年轻了，还是个少数族裔，那我就不会有这些成就，我早上甚至都不会起得来床。

So I was not affected by negative feelings. I was very excited even when people treated me very badly and they did treat me very badly initially.

所以我不会受到负面情绪影响，哪怕别人对我我不好，我也还是干劲十足，而且一开始的时候，他们确实对我很糟糕。

But I didn’t care. Because I knew what I was worth. My parents valued me and I valued my parents. Those true values are the treasures of life.

但我不在乎啊。因为我清楚自己的价值。我爸妈很爱我，我也很爱他们。彼此的珍爱就是人生的财富啊。

These other people, who may not know who I am, that’s their problem, it’s not mine.

这些（指摘我的）人，他们可能不了解我，（对我指指点点）是他们自己的问题，不是我的问题。

So I always had a larger purpose, that I was doing something for the good of my parents, my sisters, my family. I was bringing recognition to the Asian American community. I was blazing new trails for them.

所以我一直都怀有一个远大的目标，那就是，我在为了我父母、我的姐妹、我的亲人而工作，我还致力于为美国亚裔族群带去认可，我在为他们开辟新的道路。

And if I do well, then other people behind me, be they women, be they Asian Americans, or any kind of disadvantaged person, will have a better opportunity next time.

如果我成功了，那我身后的人，不管是女人，还是亚裔美国人，或者是任何弱势群体，他们就能碰上更好的机会。

So I never thought it was scary, I thought it was very exciting. You know, I was always very adventurous, very excited, and I was always grateful for the opportunities that I had.

所以我从来不觉得（面对困难）很可怕，我反倒觉得兴奋。你看，我一直都喜欢开拓，充满干劲，而且对拥有的机遇怀抱感激。