maternalistic origin stories
I am trying to go to law school. In fourth grade, my teacher told me I would be a good lawyer because I talked loud and I had a strong moral foundation. I took that to heart, obviously. In high school, I was required to have a mentor. They found me lawyer at Davis, Wright, and Tremaine LLP who spent two years telling me I should never be a lawyer. I took that with a grain of salt.
I feel as though I cannot talk about myself without first expressing a deep level of gratitude for my mother, her mother, and her mother and so on. I would not be who I am without a lineage dedicated to raising strong, kind, and skilled daughters.
I can't talk about the prospect of law school without getting deeply emotional. Often, I think about what it means that being an attorney is an accessible goal of mine. My mom was married before no-fault divorce existed, my grandmother marched in Washington D.C. with Dr. King. Her mother was one generation removed from enslavement. That is a generational trajectory for the history books. Every black girl is a unique testament to her mom.
some experiences i've had
as a strong, kind, and skilled daughter
Loyola University Chicago
August 2021 - December 2024
My last two years as an international relations and philosophy major, I primarily engaged with feminist interpretations of international law, national security, and intervention. Unlike realism, legalism, liberalism or idealism, feminism is capable of acknowledging the unique harms of the personifications of nations and institutions in the masculine image. With two minors, in European Studies and Russian Language, I witnessed the depths to which misogyny, nationalism, and militarism are baked into the Russian state-building process, using my language and philosophy skills to analyse Russian foreign policy under a feminist framework.
• Activities: Philosophy Club, Global Studies Club, Students for Reproductive Justice
• Awards: Dean’s List (Spring 2022, Fall 2024), Dean’s Scholarship ($65,000 total), Philipp Endowed Scholarship ($10,000)
• Selected Papers:
Women for the Taking: Rape as Nationbuilding in Serbia
Borders, Bodies, Brutality: Gendered Violence in the Rohingya Crisis
The Photo as (De)Humanising: Paradoxes of Humanity in War Photography
Rewriting Rewritten History: Forensic DNA Technology on Genocide Denial
The Absurd Nature of Being a Man in Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and Chester Himes' If He Hollers Let Him Go
