(CAPITOL CITY NOW) – You won’t get far in politics without money. That’s what former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun learned early on.

“I was sleeping on people’s couches, just trying to make it out of whatever pennies I could scrape together,” Braun told an audience at Southern Illinois University‘s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. “One unfortunate thing about our political system is it does take money, and if you don’t have it, you are really kind of messed up, which is what happened with me.”

Contemplating her entry into politics, Braun recalled some advice: “This one guy who lived in the neighborhood said, ‘Don’t run. You can’t possibly win. The Blacks won’t vote for you, because you are not part of the Chicago machine. The whites won’t vote for you, because you are Black. And nobody is going to vote for you, because you are a woman.’

“My first thought was, where do i sign up for this job?”

Braun is the first Black woman to serve in the U-S Senate. She has written a new book, Trailblazer.