Rev. Leah Daughtry, a Washington D.C. pastor reprised her 2008 role as the convention’s CEO. Her role was planning and executing the convention, which takes about 18 months to put together.

“It is like building a little city. We have 95 hotels, 400 buses. We laid miles and miles of cable. There were 110,000 balloons. And all of these things were built inside the Wells Fargo Center to create our convention home,” said Daughtry.

Daughtry also held the position during the 2008 convention, which makes her the only person in the history of the Democratic Party to serve as CEO of the convention twice. Her leadership extends far beyond her DNC role. She has long held senior positions at the U.S. Department of Labor during Bill Clinton’s presidency and is also the president and CEO of her own company called On These Things LLC.

“When Democrats say ‘We the people,’ we mean all the people,” said Daughtry, speaking Monday during the first night of the convention. “All the people regardless of race, color, creed or ethnicity…We know that our diversity is not our problem. It is our promise.”