It’s an origin story straight from a college brochure: Summer Lee and Delia Ramirez arrive at freshman orientation, excited but nervous about their upcoming term. They meet, realize neither of them has figured out their housing, and eagerly ask each other, “Do you want to be roommates?”

But Lee and Ramirez aren’t in school—they’re freshman members of Congress, helping to expand the U.S. House’s growing progressive “squad.” Lee is representing Pennsylvania’s 12th district, where she overcame millions of dollars spent against her campaign to become the state’s first Black congresswoman, and Ramirez is representing Illinois’ 3rd district as the first Latina congresswoman from the Midwest and the rare member of Congress in a mixed-status marriage. (Her husband is a DACA recipient.) “We’re both working class-background women, and it was very clear rent in D.C. is so, so expensive,” Lee explained. “It was a great choice to share space with another woman from my generation who is taking on this fight.”

During their first 100 days in Congress, the two let ELLE.com into their space (watch them get ready for a day at work, below) and into their lives—checking in each month to give a crash course on what it’s like being young, progressive women of color operating inside one of the nation’s oldest institutions.

Click HERE to read the full article & to watch the videos!