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Latina Leader: Mayra Rodriguez Alvarez
After a way too long hiatus, Latina Leader Lunes is back! And I’m super thrilled to start with Mayra. Just from the small peeks of her life via social media, I know she is a force to be reckoned with! She is exactly what a Latina leader is all about–she saw how the Latino community in Northwest Indiana was underserved and marginalized. Then she worked hard to become the leader that they need. After graduating law school, she opened her own practice and is continuing to provide for her community. Here she gives us some insight on her journey through law school and goals for the upcoming year: 1. …
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Harnessing Growth Mindset to Advance your Career
Happy New Year (and yes, this isn’t a mirage, it’s actually a new post)! I’m hoping everyone is having a great start to the month and is easing back to work/preparing for the new semester nicely. Because January is always all about new beginnings and progress, I wanted to talk about the importance of your mindset and how you view your abilities and skills. Likely, many have heard about growth mindset and the importance it plays in your ability to succeed in school and career. I probably first heard about this in undergrad as a Sociology major, but it didn’t really resonate with me until many years later when I…
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Sidebar: All Talents & Skills
It’s the end of 2018 and I can’t say that I 100% met my goals for the year but I definitely accomplished more than I thought I would and that is progress. The main thing is obviously this site. Working on the logo–actually the turn around time after I commissioned Carina was quick, but the concept, believing that I should do it, tracking down a graphic artist that had the skills I wanted, took time. But this new lewk has inspired me like no other. I feel like Laney in She’s All That after her eyebrows have been tweezed. Is that too old of a reference for many of you?…
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Planting Seeds: Your 1L Summer Job
Many people say your first summer out of law school doesn’t matter and that is somewhat true. It’s not like the thing you do that summer locks you into that practice area for the rest of your life. So you do have a lot of wiggle room. However, this is also where you plant a seed. If you plan it correctly, this summer can be the stepping stone to your career. It can lead to more opportunities, connections, and give you a peek of what you want your career to look like. But just how do you decide what your summer will be like? Here is how I decided: It’s…
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Does Rank Matter? Picking the Right Law School
How many have heard the advice to not go to law school if it’s not in the top ten? Or don’t go to law school if it’s not a free ride? Or just, don’t go to law school? As a reminder, there is a lot of general public opinion about who should go to law school and why. And very rarely does that general advice take into account the special circumstances many Latinas find themselves in when it’s time to apply. So when you hear advice that dissuades you from your goal, consider who is giving it to you and if you’re even the audience they’re considering when they offer…
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LOGO REVEAL!
The day is here! I’m so excited to finally reveal the new logo for Latinas Uprising!! You can tell how excited I am because this post is littered with exclamation points–my b! Four years ago, I picked the one picture taken of me at my swear-in and thought, this will do. And it has served me well, but it didn’t truly encompass the spirit of the community or what it has become. Through Latinas Uprising, I have seen a swell of dedicated, passionate, intelligent, educated women who are empowered to use their skills and knowledge to advance our communities. I am so honored to be a part of this group,…
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Small Biz Saturday Prep
So I’m not going to sit here and pretend I’m the perfect example of someone who is always politically and ethically aware about how I spend my money. I could be a lot better. But in fairness to me, ahem, growing up the idea was survival so you bought clothes, food, whatever other needs as you could afford them and there wasn’t time/ability to think, “is this product right for me and my values?” I’m sure many can relate. But now, I don’t have much excuses in not thinking through how I spend my money, especially now that I can know what my purchase may support. That’s why as I’ve…
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Final Exam: It’s the Little Things That Make the Difference
It’s almost here—final exam season! Yikes I know so many of you are busy prepping outlines, studying, and figuring out your final exams. Over the weekend, I helped review some mock essays and want to offer the same bits of advice here. I’ve gone over (in video) mastering IRAC and how to handle emotions during the actual exam, but today I want to discuss the little things that trip you up and how to manage them. So, here are three things to remember while you take your exams: One. Pay attention to the detail. Good hypos have key important information that leads you to the answer. Read it carefully, notice…
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Do It Again: Overcoming the “Prove it Again” Bias at Work
After you’ve been practicing for a while you become accustomed to people being wary of your ability and then you become super accustomed to them being blown away by how great you perform. This is a phenomenon known as “prove it again.” A horrible cycle women experience where we’re not given credit for our potential, instead our capabilities are questioned more harshly and when we deliver, those in charge need you to “prove it again” because obviously you’re past success was a fluke… This is exhausting–seriously nothing annoys me more than seeing the ~shock~ when I do a killer job, like I’ve been killing it for years, how are…
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Side Bar: Spooky Scary
It’s November–yikes. I still have a few new year’s resolutions to meet (yes, I’m still keeping track because they’re on a ~vision board~ that stares at my face every morning. And I think I’m weird enough to try and get them accomplished before the end of the year. But before that, can I just say that October was crazy short. It was a whirlwind. Starting with work–we had Latinx heritage month celebrations, which are always super fun. I wasn’t able to do too much planning of it this year, but the events I went to were great. I had a lot of fundraising events to attend and that included an…