In the history of the United States, just 46 women have ever served in the Senate. A full 20 of them are serving right now — a record high. Twenty out of 100, though, is far from equality, and female senators remain notable for their successes in such a male-dominated environment.

Earlier this year, Cosmopolitan spoke with 16 of them about their lives, their careers, and how they see the role of women in the Senate in 2015. And they had a lot they wanted to say directly to Cosmo readers. Their best advice on succeeding in your career — and perhaps taking your own Senate seat someday — is below.

Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.):

"I'd tell her to throw her feet out there and try it. This was always the amazing thing — women just need to try. Just get out there and do it. It's so easy to focus on what could go wrong, on what else you could do before you try the thing you really want to do. No. Just get out there and try."

Lauren Ahn

Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.):

"Women have to be a lot like a phoenix. Now, what's a phoenix? The phoenix is the mythical bird of my city San Francisco, and it grew out of the ashes of the 1906 earthquake. The message is, life is filled with defeats … It takes time to learn the expertise, to learn your strengths, your weaknesses, to be able to work to your strength and not to your weakness. And everybody has both."

Susan Collins (R-Maine):

"Role models are really important. It was much easier for Olympia Snowe and for me to be elected to the Senate because Margaret Chase Smith had paved the path for us. And the best example I can give you, of role models, is to recount a story that happened in my 2008 campaign. My campaign manager had an 8-year-old daughter … and she asked him, after watching me on television one night, and she said, "Daddy, can boys grow up to be senators?" And it was because, her whole life, [she] had only seen Olympia Snowe and me as senators. And I just love that story because it shows how powerful images are in role models."

Lauren Ahn

Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii):

"Be willing to take a risk … I'm all for people who want to give back to the community, but to give back in the political arena, you have to be willing to take a risk, and that's a trait that I think all of us share. You have to be willing to go out into an arena where you're asking total strangers to support you, and especially for women, there's a certain hesitancy, and this is why all the studies show that women respond to encouragement to run, whereas guys think they already have whatever it takes."

Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.):

"Go to your community wherever that is. Get involved in issues that you care about and think about how you can advance those issues by running for office. One of those things that the research shows is different for women than men is women tend to get involved in politics because of the particular issue they care about. Historically we've gotten involved later than men, and again that's begun to change in the last decade or so."

Lauren Ahn

Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.):

"I think it's always important to be clear about why this feels like a calling. The first question you have to be able to answer is, why are you running for X? And if you can't come up with a very concise answer, there's a problem. So that's where I'd start. But secondly, just jump in there and get experience, expose yourself to the process, and figure out if it's for you that way."

Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.):

"Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to fail. My daughter asked me that. I have a 29-year-old daughter. She says a lot of her friends … they're thinking, 'Children or not?' or, 'How am I going to fit this into a high-power career?' and just so many options that certainly my mother's generation wasn't thinking about. So she says a lot of her friends are asking, 'Well, how does your mother do this?' And she asked me, she goes, 'What am I supposed to say?' And I said, 'You know, you're probably not going to like this, but quit trying to analyze every little angle of it. Just do it. And if you fail, this place is filled with people who have had failed elections or failed parts of their life. You just have to pick yourself back up and try again. And if it's not what you like, try something else.'"

Lauren Ahn

Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.):

"We want your readers to get involved. I would think many of them are involved in causes, and I bet many of them are involved in social issues affecting women, or an issue [with which] they're concerned. But when they get involved in an issue and a cause, usually part of the solution lies in some public policy action."

Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.):

"The most important advice I can give them is embrace risk. You cannot be successful, frankly in anything and certainly not in politics, if you don't embrace risks. Getting in a comfortable job that you kind of like, and you make enough money to pay rent and the bills, and then deciding that it's just not worth it to try for that thing you might really want to do is a huge mistake. Almost every risk I've taken has either turned out really well for me or has been incredibly important when I failed … So get on a campaign and get comfortable with risk. And don't be afraid to be rejected."

Lauren Ahn

Patty Murray (D-Wash.):

"Never to take somebody's advice if they tell you you can't do something. I often say that if somebody tells you that, it's because they are afraid you will. So look right past that and go for your goal and work to get what you think is most important.

"There is no more rewarding job than being in elected office. I learn something new every day. I get my master's degree in a different subject every other week. It's always learning, it's always challenging, you get to work with a huge, diverse group of people, and you get to help make your country better. I can't think of a better job.

"[I would tell your readers to] get involved in something they care about. Start with — whether it is education, or whether it's foreign policy, or whether it's a project in their local community that demands some leadership and action — that they take a role in it, and then to go on and keep working and looking for places that they can take the opportunity to run for a local school board like I did, or state legislature, and build their network so they end up here."

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.):

"I will help you. Tell me your platform. Let's see where we can work together. I'd be very excited if any of your readers decided they wanted a career in public service, and whether they had the fire in their belly for electoral office, for running for an election. It takes a bit of boldness. It takes a bit of courage. But what I would tell them is that their ideas really do matter. Their voices matter. And without their voice being heard in Washington, the decisions we make aren't as good. They're not as complete. You really need the benefit of those male and female voices together to solve the nation's problems, and I would urge all women to consider public service, in whatever area they're interested in, and if they want to run for office, they should give me a call."

Lauren Ahn

Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.):

"Find your passion. For me, my passion was civil rights, it was peace in the world, it was the environment, it was education. Find the set of issues that you really care about that drive you. Tackle those issues and they will lead you into politics. Without the right people in the right places, those issues will never be resolved to your satisfaction. Know that you can't complain if you don't get involved.

"Don't be in a place where you're a person who wants to be something. Be a person who wants to do something. Because people see through it if all it's about is a title. You won't get anything done. Find your passion and it'll lead you in the fight direction.

"I think the most important thing I can say for your article to younger women is don't take anything for granted, because the rights you have can be taken away."

Lauren Ahn

Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.):

"Number one, it's not going to be easy. So don't ever assume it's gonna be easy — it's not easy for men either. And the second thing is, just take the risk. Don't be timid. And the third thing I would tell you is be yourself. Don't let someone tell you, 'Oh no, you need to do this and do that.'

"Be an innovator. Don't just parrot the same old things. That's what has the American public so frustrated, I think, is we all say the same things. What does that mean? When I sometimes talk to people who are thinking about running, I say, 'Well, why do you want to have this job?' And they'll go, 'Well, I really want to give back," and I go, 'Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.' I don't know what that means. Be specific. What are you gonna do with the job?

"I always tell people it gets really tough, and you always have to kind of go back to what motivated you to get into this, and if you're motivated by ego, you really will fail. If you're motivated by the challenge of service and to change outcomes, you have a much higher calling, and it's a lot easier to sustain yourself through the bad times."

Lauren Ahn

Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.):

"They have to start where they are, and not necessarily think they have to start working on a huge campaign or for a major public figure. Start in their own school board election or on their city council election.

"Women candidates think they can't run because they think they don't know enough, whereas a man runs into it when he doesn't know anything at all … You have to realize, you can run for something that's doable, and you can learn the issues and succeed.

"Just stiffen your spine and deal with the negativity in politics. I'm one who hasn't run negative ads, but it's there. You can't let it get to you. You're still the same person, and you still have your friends and family, and you can't let these things get to you, because otherwise you'll never run."

Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.):

"Pay attention to politics in government because it affects you whether you're paying attention or not. Your choice is not whether or not it affects you. Your choice is whether or not you pay attention. We unfortunately keep fighting [for] some basic rights for women, like reproductive choice, and we better pay attention, because there are too many people, including too many on the United States Supreme Court, that would take that away — access to preventative health care, basic things. But we women need to pay attention because [we] breathe the air and drink the water and drive on the roads and want a job and have too much college debt, and all those things are impacted.

"In a democracy, it's important that everybody's views are represented. I would say, pay attention, first of all, and vote. And then secondly, if you believe you can make a contribution, be willing to step out. Don't wait for someone to ask you.

"I think we as women tend to stand back and not offer our leadership, and so I would say put yourself forward. Don't be afraid to lose. We all fail at various times in our life; you learn from it. You grow from it. It really isn't about failing, it's about, if you're knocked down, it's about whether or not you get up. That's what counts, is getting back up."

Lauren Ahn

Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.):

"Don't wait. Politics is not about when you're ready … The U.S. Senate can be a home for women. It's a big group of people. It can be a career for you too."

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Jill Filipovic senior political writer Jill Filipovic is a contributing writer for cosmopolitan.com.

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