evidence: Pelosi was born and raised in Baltimore, and is the daughter of mayor and congressman Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. and Annunciata M. ("Nancy") Lombardi. She graduated from Trinity College, Washington, in 1962 and married businessman Paul Pelosi the next year; the two had met while both were students. They moved to New York City before settling down in San Francisco with their children. Focused on raising her family, Pelosi stepped into politics as a volunteer for the Democratic Party in the 1960s. After years of party work, rising to chair the state party, she was first elected to Congress in a 1987 special election and is now in her 19th term. Pelosi steadily rose through the ranks of the House Democratic Caucus to be elected House minority whip in 2001[1] and elevated to House minority leader a year later,[2] becoming the first woman to hold each of those positions in either chamber of Congress. [...] Pelosi is a board member of the National Organization of Italian American Women.[398] She served for 13 years as a board member of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). In 2007, she received the NIAF Special Achievement Award for Public Advocacy and remains involved in the foundation.