Why I Do This Work

There's a version of my life that looks, on paper, like a straight line: college, career, done. That's not how it happened, and I think the real version matters more.

In the span of about seven weeks, I lost the two people who had raised me alongside my parents — my grandfather and my grandmother, within days of each other, after a year that had already asked more of our family than any of us expected. They weren't just grandparents to me. They were the two people who showed up every day of my life.

I'm the first person in my family to hold a degree, and I know my grandparents would be proud of that. Without their unfailing belief in me and in the value of education, I wouldn't be the hard worker or the student I am today. Losing them both, so close together, didn't just knock me down — it clarified something. I went back to finish what I'd started, in part because I couldn't stand the idea of that belief dying with them. What started as finishing a bachelor's degree turned into something bigger once I was in it: a rediscovered pull toward law, toward justice, toward the kind of work where showing up for someone in a genuinely hard moment is the whole job.

That's where I am now — working toward my MBA and my JD, with the specific goal of becoming a licensed attorney so I can expand what I'm able to do for the people who come to me for help. The Civic Advocate is where that work starts today, as a non-attorney representative; where it's headed is bigger than that.

I'll also say this plainly: I live with invisible disabilities myself. I'm not going to turn this into a detailed medical disclosure, but I want you to know that I understand, in a very real and personal way, what it costs to fight for something you're entitled to when the world can't see why you're struggling. That understanding isn't theoretical for me. It's part of why I do this work the way I do — carefully, without judgment, and without ever assuming I know your situation better than you do.

I'll admit I'm genuinely camera-shy, and you won't find a photo of me on this site. But I wanted you to have more than just a name and a business title — a real sense of who's actually going to be on the other end of the phone when you call.

This post is part of an ongoing series introducing the people behind The Civic Advocate.