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The Importance of Self-Reflection
There is so much to look forward to when an academic year ends—especially if it ends with your graduation. It’s just such a happy and exciting time! In the midst of all the excitement it’s easy to get overwhelmed and forget to really step back and appreciate your big accomplishment. Taking time to self-reflect on all the good you accomplished (and the dips along the way) is the best stepping stone for your next phase in life—whether that phase be a new school year in the fall, or starting your career. I really encourage new grads to take a moment after the celebrations have quieted down and really review all…
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Addressing Sex Harassment in the Workplace.
If you have Netflix and an hour and half to spare, you must watch Anita. The documentary is based on the Anita Hill testimony during Clarence Thomas’ confirmation. As attorneys, women, and women of color, it is such a necessary education. In 1991, I was too young to know or understand what was happening. Then growing up, post-Anita, the general belief was that sex harassment in the workplace was wrong and kind of just assumed everyone knew that from the get-go; I obviously had no real knowledge of how bad it really was for many women. What Anita shows is that because of her testimony more people were exposed to…
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Must Have Items for International Flights.
So can I just say that not doing a study abroad while I was in school is one of my big educational regrets? I kept putting it off in college and then finally planned to do a short trip to Chile my 3L year. Sadly, that was the year the earthquake hit and we had to cancel the trip. I graduated law school still never having gone further than trips to visit family in Mexico or Panama. Since then I’ve been able to travel enough to make up for missing my study abroad experience (though I’m still bitter that the professors made us write a paper after canceling the trip.…
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Simple Sun Protection for Latinas
When I entered my late twenties I became super vigilant about skin care–steps I’d normally skip in the past (like washing off my makeup) suddenly became very necessary. This new devotion was definitely fueled by my long term plan to stay looking young for as long as I can. However, the more I read up on skin care, the more I realized how proactive I needed to start being about sun protection. This is a topic that is sometimes ignored by Latinas because there is a myth that we’re not as affected by the sun. One reason for our lack of awareness is due to the fact that many studies seem…
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How to not Annoy Coworkers in Meetings
I attend a ridiculous amount of meetings every month. Some that are really necessary, and some that are like…why am I here? They are not my favorite thing to do at work, but in many cases, these meetings may be the main way you interact with various members of your team so it’s always good to take advantage of this time (as painful or boring as it may be) and do your best to present your best self. It’s important because not only can you build a good reputation by following good meeting “etiquette” but the flip side can happen where you start annoying coworkers or they begin to question…
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Fading Acne Scars and Spots
About two years ago, I suddenly started dealing with massive acne issues. Ok, I’m exaggerating, but I cruised past my teens and most of my twenties with hardly any issues with acne so imagine my surprise (and horror) when I started dealing with continuous breakouts. It just was a new problem with which I had little experience. Apparently, as we age we may continue (or start) to fight bouts of acne because of the different hormone fluctuations. It also doesn’t help that we have the added stress of an often hectic lawyer lifestyle that increases our chances of acne breakouts. It’s a really vicious cycle. For those working on their…
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Addressing Sexual Assault within the Latino Community through a Legal Perspective
One of the things that’s so powerful about having a J.D. is that we can become true agents of change. Of course, any individual with the vision and drive can create change in their community, but as attorneys, we are given a little extra ammunition by way of our legal abilities. My hope is that we always remember this and try our best to continue to improve everyone’s standard of living. Because April is Sexual Awareness Month, I think it’s vital to talk about what we can do as attorneys to help fight this problem. In the article I wrote for Being Latino, I mention that one in six Latinas…
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Style Matters: Shoes for the Law Office
Caveats before we begin: My shoe opinion is colored by two experiences: shadowing an attorney in my best “business-y” clothes as a high school student and becoming embarrassed by the fact that because the heels were a little too chunky (early 2000’s y’all) that they made loud noises on the stairs, and that I couldn’t walk as fast as him, which was annoying. My slower walk wasn’t because I was a novice to heels (hello, I rocked Rocket Dog and Steve Madden platforms all the time–again, early 2000s), but rather the fact that generally most people cannot walk as fast in heels as a someone wearing non-heeled shoes. Second, an…
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Activism Anywhere.
I read an article on an amazing endeavor Latino students at a local university created to help undocumented students. The student group at Loyola University Chicago, through their student senate, passed an initiative where students pay $2.50 per semester that goes to help undocumented students pay for their tuition. Full disclosure–I attended LUC Law School, but not for undergrad. When I read how students, many who were not undocumented, did this for their fellow classmates (and for future students) it reminded me of how we can all make the effort to be activist in our own lives. I think as attorneys, once we start practicing, we often get so bogged down in the…
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Networking: Why & How
I think many people feel apprehensive about networking because it can be an awkward situation. Perhaps it’s with a group you barely know; you feel weird about wanting to find leads on jobs; fearing awkward silence if you can’t think of something to talk about; or the worst– when you get iced out of a conversation when a third party joins the conversation. I can go on and on about how much I used to dislike networking. For those that don’t have a natural tact for networking it can seem overwhelming and confusing, especially when you’re still a student. As a student everyone is yelling at you to “network!” But what does…