1.    What made you want to become an attorney?

Since childhood, I have wanted a career that allowed me to “make a difference in the world.”  It took until graduate school to determine what that meant specifically to me and for my career.  There, I studied sustainable economic development and theories of eco-capitalism and decided that I wanted to help private sector actors looking to monetize environmental benefits – companies that wanted to make some “green” while making the world a bit more so.  While working for 12 years in a private law firm, I did just that by representing project sponsors and lenders in the development and finance of energy and infrastructure projects, especially renewable energy projects.  At CLDP, I work with primarily low- and lower-middle income countries to improve their legal and regulatory frameworks and commercial enabling environments in order to attract private companies to build and invest in such projects.

2.    Why did you choose a career in international development?

My family never traveled outside of the Midwest while I was a kid.  In fact, I took my first plane ride as a sophomore in high school traveling to a volleyball tournament in Florida.  Growing up, however, my family had a subscription to National Geographic magazine.  The spectacular photographs alone transported me to different continents, different ecosystems, different cultures.  They instilled in me a profound curiosity about the natural world and its multivariate inhabitants.  I wanted to get out there and see it all.  That’s really it, it’s that simple.

3.    What do you find most gratifying about your work at CLDP?

I love that my job is to provide government and state-owned utility officials in low- and lower-middle income countries technical assistance in order to understand what it takes for them to attract private sector investment in the renewable energy space and to decarbonize their economies.  My job is not to solve all their issues for them, but rather, to empower them with the knowledge and skills they need to solve those issues for themselves.

4.    What does women’s economic empowerment mean to you?

If I am talking about women’s economic empowerment within the American white collar professional context, I see my role in women’s economic empowerment as being someone who always “extends the ladder” for others, particularly for those – including but not limited to women – who are first generation professionals (or at least first-generation legal professionals).  I entered my profession without the extensive professional network that so many others have and that is so vital to flourishing in the legal field. I was fortunate to have several key mentors and sponsors early on who extended me a ladder, helping me to build the substantive and soft skills every attorney needs and introducing me to their professional networks.  Learning from them the importance of having rich and diverse personal and professional networks, I have taken great care to also build my own along the way.  Now, I see it as my obligation to extend that ladder to others who come to the profession in need of one: people who are traditionally under-represented in the profession, including women (especially women of color), first generation Americans, first generation professionals and anyone else in need.  My goal is to mentor and sponsor both women and men, to be someone revered and respected by both women and men, for that is true women’s economic empowerment within the American white collar professional context.  The pinnacle is not to be a “lady boss.”  It is to be, instead, simply a BOSS.  That is true women’s economic empowerment.

The same principles apply to women’s economic empowerment across the full economic spectrum and across the globe.  We need to continually extend that ladder to those who come behind us, to help lift them up economically and socially.  That is the obligation to the women who extend those ladders and to all who have benefited from their help.