Aleatha - Sep. 17, 2016

INTERVIEWER: Are you a millionaire or a billionaire?

ALEATHA: No. I wish, but no. I remember [when I was] like eight years old wanting pen pals and wanting to write. And my mom was like, "Yeah, why don't you write to the President and the First Lady?" And they started writing back.

She actually hand-wrote this. "Dear Aleatha, I want to thank you for all the help you gave me in New York. You and your mother were two of my best helpers. And I will watch with pride as you continue to grow and become the fine person God meant you to be. Your friend, Hillary Rodham Clinton" I would update them, you know, on things that were going on in my life, and send them any kind of support that a little girl could. I remember this one. It was a letter about her mom. This was my graduation luncheon back when I was in middle school.

INTERVIEWER: So Hillary came to your middle school luncheon?

ALEATHA: Yeah. And that's where she made the promise to come to my high school graduation. Four years later, my mom was like, "Yeah, yeah, Hillary's coming." I'm like, "She didn't remember. She didn't remember that," because I didn't remember it. She remembered that promise that she made to a little girl. I'm just a regular girl from the Bronx. We didn't think that, you know, someone who is that well-known would come to someone's graduation. And she did. Hillary Clinton is back but in a role that is not as much political as it is inspirational. My graduation was the first public appearance that she came to after she conceded the nomination in 2008. It felt really special to me. She actually kept her promise. She actually remembered her promise.

INTERVIEWER: What does she get out of this relationship?

ALEATHA: I honestly don't know. I think it just goes back to what she really does out of the kindness of her heart.