Independent Women’s Forum is pleased to announce that Rep. Lisa McClain, who represents Michigan’s 10th Congressional District in Congress, is the latest entry in our popular series of Champion Women profiles.

McClain’s congressional campaign came about as the result of a challenge at a McClain family Sunday dinner. “So, we were sitting at the Sunday dinner table,” McClain recalls, “and I was crabbing about something. I don't know what it was. Well, you know something about what was on the TV? Whether it's the deficit or something going on, I don't remember. And my youngest daughter, Ryan, looked at me across the table and says, ‘Well Mom, if you don't like it, why don't you do something about it?’"

“And, oh, I was mad at her to begin with because she was a little sassy. But in all honesty, that really got the wheels turning on why not run? Right? I mean, I started my business from scratch. I started something called the Drug Court from scratch. Why not run? Just because I haven't been in politics?”

McClain won—and nobody should have been surprised. After all, she must hold the record as the shortest person ever to excel in basketball in the annals of school sports. “So, yeah, I was a little scrappy growing up, and I think it has stayed with me,” she admits.

McClain overcame hurdles in her childhood to become a successful executive at a financial company.

We know you will enjoy meeting this scrappy but warm Italian Mama whom Nancy Pelosi once called “that woman” in a tweet.