Public Defender. Legal Advisor. Criminal Justice Reform Advocate. Fighter.
Born in Franklin, Tennessee, I have resided in Nashville, TN since 2006. Currently I work as the Voting Rights Campaign Strategist at the Sentencing Project. Before joining the Sentencing Project, I worked as the Senior Legal Advisor at Free Hearts, a Non-Profit Organization led by formerly incarcerated women. I am also a former Public Defender and for years I have been engaged in various aspects of criminal justice reform with a particular focus on mass incarceration, the re-entry process and voting rights restoration.
My life has been anything but conventional. Girl Scout. Star student. Federal inmate. Supreme Court petitioner. Public defender. Community advocate. Congressional candidate.
Because I have personally experienced the injustices that are built into the foundations of our country, I have a unique and first-hand knowledge into some of the most important topics of our times.
As a defendant in the federal system, I struggled against prosecutors and judges who were more focused on punishment than justice. As a federal inmate, I studied for the LSAT in a prison system designed to dehumanize while successfully petitioning the United States Supreme Court to reduce an extreme sentence handed down by a zealous judge. Outside the gates of Alderson Federal Prison Camp, I fought to reclaim my right to vote and stood before a panel to “prove my character” to practice law.
As a Public Defender, I saw over and over how the system was designed to keep Black and brown people in chains—not just the criminal justice system but all the system surrounding us. I saw daily how second chances privileged the powerful while withholding opportunity from the most vulnerable.
As I continue to use my insight, experience, and passion to confront systemic oppression, I am calling on all of us to reimagine the legal system; to envision a world that meets people’s struggles with care, not cages—resulting in a “justice system” worthy of the name.
I am also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
The work continues……