Jennifer's career path shows that we will ultimately end up where we intended to go in our career, as long as each step we take along the way feels right at the time we take it.
Advice
- Don’t think about all the steps you have to take in your career, just focus on the step that’s right for you now.
- The step you want to take now will send you down the right path, even if you can’t see it yet.
- When asked a question, don’t hesitate or second guess yourself. "Your answer is probably better than almost everybody else's."
- Speak up.
Key notes
- Jennifer is a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice.
- Jennifer’s cases aim to create large social change, which is called impact litigation.
- Previously, Jennifer was an advocate for victims of domestic abuse.
- Jennifer was also a lawyer at the Center for Reproductive Rights and the New York Attorney General's Civil Rights Bureau.
- Despite being a civil rights lawyer for the federal government, Jennifer didn’t get much maternity leave.
- Jennifer believes that maternity and paternity leave would change the career trajectory for many women.
- Jennifer tells funny stories about what it's like being a woman investigating police departments, particularly when she was nursing and needed to take breaks for pumping.
