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Be the Boss: Exuding Grace Under Pressure
A while ago, I attended a panel of local Latinas who are also General Counsel in their jobs and they had a ton of advice to offer. One of their big pieces of advice, that they all agreed on, was the need to exude confidence and grace under pressure. This is easier said than done—especially if you practice in a field where everything is high risk or you’re in a firm where people act like everything is a crisis. How can you cultivate this skill? Being calm and exuding confidence takes practice. It’s mindful and purposeful. It requires working on your reactions and demeanor both in and out of the…
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Summer Fashion for New Interns: dos & don’ts
I always am hesitant to talk about clothing and young women. I just think finger-wagging about what women in their 20s wear is such a slippery slope that leads to micro-managing, is patronizing, and just a ball of trouble. And also the older I get, the more bitter I would look going around talking about “girls” these days. Like, I’m not about that look. So here is my preface regarding this post. Wear what you want. If you need whatever flare you think is helping you feel more put together than go for it. I mean, who am I to say that that short skirt you may wear is any…
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Career Advancement: Are You Blooming?
I’ve been really fortunate that a lot of my job duties and focus have changed about every two years. This has kept me interested and learning new areas of laws and skills, which is really fortunate because there’s a risk that we get stuck in the day to day and accidentally become stagnant in the work we do. And that is a disaster for your career. We should be constantly growing and looking for new opportunities, and I don’t mean job-hopping, I mean really growing in your craft. Of course, when you’re new to practicing everything is challenging and new, obvi, but a few years in you need to make…
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Don’t Take It Personal: Working to Accept Constructive Criticism
Previously, I’ve discussed my experience with the public defender’s office and how it was less than ideal. This was the first professional environment where getting yelled at was super common–not just by the clients and victims, who frequently sexually harassed me, but by the attorneys. This isn’t a shade post on PDs–I think the work they do is incredible and not respected enough, but my personal experience was bad. So bad that I can confidently say that I have never had a boss as straight up cray as I did my first time around with the PDs (I actually did two rounds with them lol). After that experience, I had…
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Show, Don’t Tell: How to Master the Art of Self-Promotion
We talk a lot about letting go of humildad, getting comfortable with self-promotion, etc. but it is a fine line between being good at self-promotion and looking like you’re feeling yourself a little too much, especially when you’re new and may not have the experience to back up everything you’re claiming. So how do you walk this line? The key here is to show, don’t tell. When you’re new, all you can really do is stack up those wins. Small and large victories will help boost your ability and reputation at work. And it’s not all about litigation in the courtroom– it’s being able to point to specific skills you…
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Why You have to be Twice as Good
It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair–I know. It’s not fair that we have to be twice as good to get the recognition and acclaim and basic respect as some mediocre/average people who happen to sit in positions of power and privilege. If we do twice the work, we should get double the rewards! But sadly, we’re not there yet. A resounding common-thread of advice that successful Latina lawyers share is that you have to be doubly prepared to exceed expectations and gain traction in your career. The reason for that is two-fold. One, we want to blow dumb asses that question our abilities out of the water.…
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Skills Beyond Question: Beating the Imposter Syndrome
I have been writing a few pieces outside of this site lately and have been trying to find the guts to make pitches to “bigger” platforms because there’s a voice in the back of my head that questions my ability to write? And to be honest, I would have taken the leap to do more and more writing a year ago, but my fear kept holding me back. I keep thinking that I’m not that good, I have no real training, is my voice even needed? But a few things happened that encouraged me to push myself. Maybe I will fall flat on my face in my attempts to write…
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Quirky or Unprofessional: Spend Your Capital at Work Wisely
I recently read a comment online about a young woman who was new to her job and doing really well, but had been getting looks from people because she was taking notes on her arms. She realized she was using up social capital at work by doing that and decided to opt for a notebook to look a little more professional. As I was reading this I kept thinking–what are some ways we use up social capital at work that hinder us? I’m defining social capital as the goodwill people have towards you at work. You want to accumulate enough of it so that people take you seriously, are willing…
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Be a Goal-Digger: Setting and Achieving in 2017
I remember checking my first semester law school grades and thinking, “hmmm, not great.” Surprisingly, I did not have a freak out when my grades were not so fantastic. And although I tried to alter some things second semester, I still didn’t seem to get it. It wasn’t until I completely revamped my studying style that everything finally clicked into place and it was smooth-sailing/dean’s list from then on, thankyouverymuch. But think of all the time I wasted my second semester because I didn’t realign appropriately. Instead, I should have taken the gift of a “fresh start” to make real changes in my study habits. I try to do that…
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Happy Medium: Finding Your Voice as a New Attorney
I often joke that there are two settings as a new attorney—one that is hyper-confident in their nascent skills and the other that knows that there’s a lot they don’t know so they hold back for fear of being wrong. It’s tough to find a happy medium, but that’s basically the beauty of your long career—you’ll get taken down a few pegs and get built up in other areas until you feel comfortable in your skills and seek out other ways to improve. But before you get there, one of the big hurdle as a new attorney is finding your voice in group settings. For new attorneys on both ends…