Out of just 90 women (16.8%) currently serving in the U.S. Congress, two of them are sisters. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), who was elected to the House in 1996, and her younger sister Linda Sanchez (D-CA), who was elected in 2002, are the first and only female duo to ever serve on Capitol Hill.
The Sanchez sisters did not inherit their political power. Conversely, they grew up working poor, daughters of Mexican immigrants who struggled to raise seven children on the father’s earnings as an industrial mechanic and mother’s odd jobs cleaning houses and selling Avon products. “When you come from a large family you have to scrap and fight for everything you get,” Linda recalls, “but it had many advantages. You learn diplomacy, teamwork, coalition building—skills that help me in my job today.”
They also pushed each other to better themselves. Loretta, who is nine years older, led by example, pursuing both undergraduate and master’s degrees, entering the world of business and then eventually running for and winning a seat in Congress. She also explicitly urged Linda to aim higher. When she began applying to local California colleges, Loretta said: “You could go anywhere—Stanford, Brown, Berkeley. Let’s apply to those.” Linda was surprised when she got in, and she later achieved a bachelor’s from UC Berkeley and a law degree from UC Los Angeles. When Linda started working as a lawyer and grappled with being one of the only women, Loretta counseled, “Toughen up. Work harder. Don’t let it get you down.”
Linda had some surprises for her sister too. After Loretta had been in Congress for almost six years, she called her up to say she was also interested in serving. Loretta didn’t like the idea at first. “Who wants their baby sister to come play in the sandbox?” she says. But when she considered the low numbers of female political leaders—not to mention Latinas—she decided to help. Now, she says having her sister there is like having an extra pair of eyes and ears.
While the percentage of female leaders remains dismal, you don’t have to look far to find that in several industries power women come in pairs. Of the 35 women (3.5%) leading America’s 1000 largest companies, Denise Morrison, CEO of Campbell Soup, and Maggie Wilderotter, CEO of Frontier Communications, share the same parents. Similarly, beloved PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi has a sister, Chandrika Tandon, who is a Grammy-nominated artist and trustee of New York University.
In the world of sports, Venus and Serena Williams together hold 80 singles titles and 39 doubles titles in tennis. In Hollywood, Kathleen Kennedy has produced mega hits like War Horse, Jurassic Park and ET while her twin, Connie Kennedy, has helped manage films like The Adventures of Tintin and Indiana Jones. In fashion and entertainment, twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen went from child stars to a design duet with clothing line Elizabeth & James, and award-winning sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy founded clothing brand Rodarte, which has collaborated with The Gap and Target.
Last year, FORBES explored the idea of inter-generational achievement, asking if success is passed along from one generation to the next. Yet when siblings—containing near identical genetics, experiencing similar childhoods and instilled with matching value systems—ascend to power independently from their parents, one wonders if they are wired for success.
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