Public Relations Committee Chair & Member of the Board of Directors 

The Public Relations Committee requires daily work. We are in constant communication drafting and scheduling social media posts, engaging with members, The Florida Bar, and other VBAs on various social media platforms, and working with MDFAWL leadership to make sure that events are promoted with enough time to ensure attendance. Our social media presence is something we are very proud of at MDFAWL, and constantly receive positive feedback from state bars, VBAs, and legal influencers acros the country.

We are a tight-knit team, and I cannot thank Keri Joseph de Freitas, Lanette Martin, and Elsa Van Gorp enough for their time and incredible dedication this year. In addition to our promotional work, PR works closely with the teams planning our signature events. We coordinate many aspects of event planning, but especially the sponsorship. It is PR's duty to ensure that event and annual sponsors are properly recognized so that they get the best value out of their sponsorship and are encouraged to continue supporting MDFAWL.

I have been the main designer of graphics: including those posted on our website, on social media, in the weekly Messenger, in email blasts, and in the Newsletter, as well as any printed materials or digital presentations for events. While I very much enjoy the work, for the sake of efficiency and creating sustainability as I transition to other roles in the organization, the Board has approved the use of an outside design team to assist with this aspect of the PR Committee. I will continue to oversee the outside design team as they learn to create content that reflects our unique and well-established brand. 

As a Director, I of course attend monthly Board meetings and every event I possibly can. I am an active participant in each Board meeting, lending my support to initiatives  and providing counsel when it is sought. Before events, I offer my assistance to fellow Directors and Committee Chairs for planning, coordinating, and promoting, and try to arrive early and/or stay late to help as needed on the day. I have served at the check in desk, audio/visual technician, moderator, and witness for the Trial Skills Workshop, amongst other volunteer roles. I love seeing my colleagues' hard work pay off! 

I hope that any member of MDFAWL leadership asked would be able to speak to my dedication to this organization and willingness to lend my support however I can.

Get Out the Vote Campaign 

Each year in which an election has been held while I served on the PR Committee, we have made informative posts on social media and blogs on our website to let our members and followers know when and how to vote. We include links to register to vote, confirm registration, request an absentee ballot, find your polling place, download your sample ballot, research the candidates, and so much more. 

This year we thought it was important given the historically low female voter turnout to use our platform to encourage our members to vote. I designed a post card filled with helpful graphics and reminders that we mailed to each registered member. I hosted a Postcard Party where MDFAWL volunteers drafted handwritten notes. I sought out additional volunteers for remaining cards, and addressed and sent the balance myself, so that every member was reached. We hope that our reminders reached our members, and I look forward to finding other ways to engage the community in exercising this important right in the years to come. 

Level Up Series

On March 15, 2023, MDFAWL presented the first session of a new career development series: Level Up, Taking Control of Your Career. The series is aimed at young lawyers looking to take the next step, learning and implementing strategies to achieve advancement, and sharing their own learned lessons with other female attorneys.

Our outgoing MDFAWL President, Diana Mendez, had an incredible vision for a Leadership Academy, during which a cohort of attorneys who have approximately 5-7 years of experience and are ready to move up to the next level (including from associate to partner) will be chosen through a rigorous application process. Academy members will meet regularly with career coaches and other speakers as part of a structured, paid program. I offered Level Up as a companion to the Leadership Academy, a free series with many repeat participants, but also allowing for fluctuating attendance week to week. 

K&L Gates, LLP hosted the first session, “Becoming Indispensable.” Participants engaged in a lively discussion about the actions younger attorneys may take to demonstrate their capabilities and invite additional opportunities for promotion, mentorship, sponsorship, skill development, client access, and professional development.

With Level Up's demonstrated success, the Leadership Academy is ready to kick off. I have stepped back from assisting with the Academy as I intend to apply to participate, and am very excited for our first class!

Community Fridge Project 

Buddy System MIA is an organization fighting food insecurity by creating unique and innovative ways to engage our community, empowering neighbors to support neighbors, beginning with access to free, healthy food. Buddy System has established ten Community Fridges in Miami-Dade County. These fridges are changing the landscape of food insecurity in Miami, existing in food deserts with a simple message: take what you need, leave what you can. This initiative has supported thousands of people in under-represented communities with free, healthy food. Each fridge is also a truly unique and special piece of community art. (Learn more here).

In conjunction with the Community Service Committee, PR has helped to create an ongoing partnership with Buddy System, encouraging our members to donate to their local fridges, and doing an MDFAWL meetup where we handed out over $500 worth of refrigerated foods and pantry staples to neighborhood residents over the course of less than an hour. 

In this coming year, I plan to organize additional meetups in neighborhoods across Miami, allowing MDFAWL members to give back while also connecting with each other. 

Donation Drives

PR continued their partnership with the Community Service team to create and promote Back to School, Halloween costume, Christmas gift, and other drives to benefit the residents of the Lotus House Women's Shelter. Lotus House serves women who are homeless, whether due to domestic violence, untreated medical or mental illness, disability or economic reasons. The shelter also welcomes children, and even has a maternity wing for women who are pregnant or caring for infants. Lotus House has been a great partner, allowing MDFAWL volunteers to come to the shelter location in order to deliver our donations directly, which then has led organically to the volunteers gathering for an informal meetup over lunch. 

We plan to continue to collect donations on a regular basis to meet Lotus House's needs, and will pair our community service events with member gatherings so that like-minded MDFAWL attorneys can come together while doing good for the community. 

Service to the Community Beyond MDFAWL

My dedication to the advancement of women, minorities, and other vulnerable and underrepresented members of our society does not end with MDFAWL, or with the legal community. I am and have always been very active in pro bono legal efforts, as well as as a member of other local and national organizations, focusing my work on achieving equity under the law.

Pro Bono Initiatives 

I have always found time to devote to pro bono service, since my first days as an attorney. I have been recognized each year as one of the attorneys who donates at least 50 hours of my time to pro bono efforts, and have recently been named the Miami office's Associate Pro Bono Coordinator. Through my firm's partnership with Freedom Network USA’s Survivor Reentry Project, I have advocated for (and am currently advocating for) the expunging of criminal records for victims of human trafficking to allow them to start over with a clean slate. 

I have also partnered with attorneys in various organizations to draft briefs amicus curiae in death penalty appeals across the country, including two submitted to the United States Supreme Court, and a third to be submitted this summer. 

My biggest pro bono passion is serving on the five-person team overseeing K&L Gates LLP's Cyber Civil Rights Legal Project, a global pro bono project founded by my K&L Gates mentor and former MDFAWL President Elisa D'Amico. The project provides legal services to victims of nonconsensual pornography (i.e., “revenge porn”) when their sexually explicit images are distributed and displayed online without consent. In addition to overseeing the project, I continue to take on clients myself, and find the work incredibly rewarding. 

National Association of Women Lawyers

As my involvement with MDFAWL has grown, I have also taken an interest in the national umbrella organization, the National Association of Women Lawyers (“NAWL”). Because my Get Out the Vote campaign gained NAWL recognition, I was asked by the Advocacy Committee chair to become a member, and am now a founding member of the newly-formed 5-member SCOTUS Subcommittee. The Subcommittee is planning a series of podcasts and panels to educate the NAWL membership and legal community at large about the potential impact of major upcoming Supreme Court decisions that affect the rights of women and minorities. I am also a member of this year’s Annual Meeting Planning Committee, and will be attending the meeting in Chicago this July, and organizing a panel. 

Women's Fund of Miami-Dade

As  member of the Host Committee for the Women’s Fund’s annual Raise the Bar event for the past 6 years, I have worked to secure sponsorship and attendance from members of the legal community to network, bid on auction items, and raise money and awareness to fuel the Women’s Fund’s work including combating sex trafficking and domestic violence, as well as supporting the organization’s four pillars: Freedom From Violence, Economic Mobility, Leadership, and Health & Well-Being.