I hope to use my law degree to help disadvantaged Black people by working with domestic violence survivors either in a client-centered non-profit space, or through other governmental victim-centered organizations. Knowing that Black women experience domestic violence at disproportionate rates (twenty-two percent of black women and girls will be raped at some point in their lives and for every Black woman who reports a rape, fifteen Black women do not report), securing my JD would allow me to help support those who are currently navigating a criminal legal system that largely vilifies our identities. With a Juris Doctorate, I hope to dedicate myself to advocating for survivors at the next level. Motivated by my own experience and the experiences of others, I have already used my time in law school to educate victim-survivors by creating a library of resources dealing with this unique trauma and connecting survivors to mental health professionals or legal representatives that have experience working directly with those who have experienced sexual assault. Additionally, I hope to instill victim-survivors with a sense of confidence in order to break down the system, setting a precedent for more in-court victories and establishing real-world protections for those who have experienced sexual violence. Knowing that campus sexual assault and harassment also directly affects Black women, I have aspirations to get more involved in the fight to improve Title IX regulations to push for more strict language regarding Title IX's interactions with Title IV of the Civil Rights Act. Change must come from within, and with a JD, I hope to eventually work in policy or legislation to reallocate the Violence Against Women Act and employ restorative justice informed by a victim-centered approach. Further, I plan to use my law degree to support incarcerated folks. In this capacity, I hope to get more involved with organizations like Survived and Punished or the Innocence Project, which are groups that help criminalized survivors who are incarcerated after committing violence against their abusive spouses. Knowing that the carceral system is largely an environment that promotes institutional rape, I hope to use my law degree to help support those experiencing the harm created by the prison industrial complex by representing survivors in the appeal and post-conviction process. A law school education can provide me with the tools to change the lives of others who have lived in silence for too long and teach victim-survivors to learn from my mistakes. Sexual assault is an epidemic and there are many more strides we can take to improve the lives of victim-survivors everywhere. Finally, my condolences to you and your family for the loss of your son. Thank you for providing this scholarship in his honor and I appreciate your consideration.

One of my favorite hobbies is learning about and keeping track of astrology. I love it because it provides a welcome break to my everyday life as a law student while simultaneously allowing me to learn more about myself and the world around me. Learning about the planets, their influences, and the ways that they travel and influence world events is key to understanding the cyclical nature of society and communities. Additionally, it's just a bit of fun to chat about the impressions all 12 signs leave on one another and how our birth charts connect to make us who we are. As a Capricon Sun with an Aquarius Rising and a Cancer Moon, astrology feeds my need to question societal norms and constructs, provides a bit of much-needed structure and in-depth understanding of mental processes, and allows me to connect more deeply with others and experience empathy and understanding toward those I might not otherwise find common ground with.

Many victims-survivors of sexual assault, rape, and intimate partner violence don’t know their rights. They don’t know who to turn to in the moments after their trauma, let alone how to begin to open up to friends, family, and those in their lives that they trust the most. As a result of this stunning lack of information, the statistics surrounding the reporting of sexual violence are daunting: Every 73 seconds an American is sexually assaulted and about 3 of every 4 of those assaults goes unreported; twenty-two percent of black women and girls will be raped at some point in their lives and for every Black woman who reports a rape, fifteen Black women do not report. There are too many stories just like mine and too many women and men who lacked the resources to make informed decisions about who to turn to and what to do next. We’re told how to protect ourselves, but never how to deal with the aftermath - how to get a rape kit done or file a police report or contact a lawyer to receive information about filing charges. Instead, we receive representation in the form of watching high-profile sexual assault cases that go awry - rapists, predators, and the like who receive time off because judges want to protect them from any “severe impact” in light of “twenty minutes of action.” With a Juris Doctorate, I hope to dedicate myself to advocating for survivors at the next level. Motivated by my own experience and the experiences of others, I hope to educate victim-survivors by creating a library of resources dealing with this unique trauma and connecting survivors to mental health professionals who have experience working directly with those who have experienced sexual assault. Additionally, I hope to instill victim-survivors with a sense of confidence in order to break down the system, setting precedence for more in-court victories and establishing real-world protections for those who have experienced sexual violence. Change must come from within, and with a JD, I plan to join the fight to improve Title IX regulations, reallocate the Violence Against Women Act, and employ restorative justice informed by a victim-centered, trauma-and-violence-informed approach to transformative, alternative routes of justice. Currently, the vast majority of perpetrators of sexual assault will not go to jail or prison. Out of every 1000 sexual assaults, 995 perpetrators walk free. There must be a better way to protect survivors and eradicate rape culture from being so tightly engrained in the American way of life, and with my JD, I hope to improve these conditions and impact our society at large.