One of the most powerful people in the largest city in the U.S. is a woman you've probably never heard of. Her name is Melissa Mark-Viverito, she's the speaker of the New York City Council and the first Latina to represent her district.

She's an outspoken progressive, she fights for reproductive rights (including talking openly about her HPV diagnosis) — and she once held the job that Amy Poehler did on Parks and Recreation. In other words, she's our kind of politician.

But, she's quick to say, it hasn't all been easy. Mark-Viverito was born in Puerto Rico and didn't come to the mainland U.S until she was 18. She arrived in New York for undergraduate studies at Columbia University — and right away, she started seeing problems.

"There was a lot of ignorance and misunderstanding as to the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States," Mark-Viverito said when we interviewed her in her office at City Hall. "There were really negative stereotypes that were really alarming to me."

But, as the daughter of a fierce, second-wave feminist, Mark-Viverito learned to organize and fight for her beliefs at an early age. She brought that conviction with her to Columbia and now to New York City government.

We sat down with the speaker in September to talk about her role, her hopes for New York City, and how she learned to speak up. Our conversation, lightly edited and condensed, is below.

Do you recall a specific moment when you realized politics was the career for you?

“I was approached by leaders in the community and others that asked me to consider running for office, because they felt that there was a leadership vacuum. They saw potential in me in terms of being able to step up to the plate.

“Women in particular reached out to me and said, ‘You should do this.’”

We hear that from women in politics a lot — that it takes that extra push or extra ask in order to get them to consider running for office. Why is that?

“It’s structural sexism. If you look at historical movements, it’s usually women who do the work and who are really organized and committed, yet we’re not often the ones that are given the credit or being asked to assume leadership positions.

“Even today, we only have 15 women out of 51 [New York City] council members. There’s a great gender inequity in this council, in this progressive city, and that’s a problem. There are still some real structural challenges that we are facing. We’ve got to figure out how to overcome them, and it’s really difficult. There are many times when I’m the only woman in the room.”

What do you think we can do to overcome them?

“One idea is creating pipelines of opportunity. When we support candidates, it’s not just about the issues anymore — it’s about gender equity. That has to be a priority in who we support for elected office.”