My friend and community advocate, organizer, Democratic strategist Christian Amato joins me to discuss his inspired run for the New York State Senate. What an honor to help lift this man and his message up in this time where we need a whole new type of leader to navigate the challenges that stand before us.

Christian Amato was born and raised in the Pelham Parkway section of the Bronx, the son of Italian immigrants who came to our community in the 1950s.

Christian Amato is a community advocate, organizer, Democratic strategist and founder of https://consense.io. An active local leader, Amato serves on the Boards of Community Board 11, Liberty Democratic Club, and the Pelham Parkway Neighborhood Association.

Christian has worked across the Bronx and Westchester area to build awareness for Democratic candidates and causes, fighting for fair and equitable representation, and elevating women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community into leadership positions.

Christian worked in the State government serving as Senator Biaggi’s Deputy Chief of Staff and District Director. As a community organizer, Christian has trained with Organizing For Action (OFA) and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. He has worked on several campaigns in New York and across the county. Through OFA, he also mentored and trained dozens of up-and-coming organizers in the state of New York. Amato organized to connect immigrants to critical DACA initiatives, helped organize against the Independent Democratic Conference, and managed the campaign to End Medical Debt in New York State.

During the pandemic, Christian has led mutual aid efforts to connect Bronxites to food and PPE. Through his work, he has distributed over 1 million face masks and over 500,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables all across The Bronx.

Previously, he was an active director and producer, producing over 45 off-broadway productions. On Broadway, he served as a producer on notable productions including Tony Award nominated Rocky and Tony Award winning The Color Purple; and as a director, he staged several world premiere productions. Amato served as founder and producing artistic director of The Theatre Project and Shakespeare Off-Broadway, which also toured Bronx Schools to bring theatre to children.

For his work in the theatre industry, he has appeared on Fox News as an entertainment contributor and in magazines such as DOWNTOWN, Entrepreneur, FOX NY, Breaking Character, Playbill, TheaterMania and Condé Nast Traveler. At the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and at Samuel French, Inc., he created opportunities for artists to earn a living wage through their talents. As the Director of Digital Product at Samuel French, Christian was at the forefront of the company's digital innovation. Samuel French, as acknowledged by Playbill in 2017, “leads the pack in bringing work to the digital space." Christian has pioneered new ways to interact with plays by creating Abbott, the world's first ePlay app, and the first Enhanced ePlay of Agatha Christie's best-seller And Then There Were None.

Amato believes that our district deserves community-centered leadership. He is running for New York State Senate for District 36 because we need a champion in Albany to fight for the Bronx and Westchester.

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