I am born and raised in St. Petersburg and I have an extensive history of supporting and receiving benefits from local nonprofit organizations. When I was 14 years old, I was a student of Les Jeunes Danseurs, a nonprofit organization that allowed ballet students to take classes free of charge. In order to provide payment to the ballet teachers, family members and those old enough to, would work concessions at Tropicana Field and the former Bayfront Center. Since graduating law school, I work continuously with Community Law Program, a legal aid society in St. Petersburg. There, I counsel on the issues of non-profit organizations, family law, and bankruptcy. Community Law Program selected me as the recipient of their Young Lawyer Volunteer of the Year in 2012 and their Lawyer Volunteer of the Year in 2019.

My experience in working with nonprofits stems from my volunteer work at Community Law Program. As a legal aid society, Community Law Program serves the needs of St. Petersburg’s disadvantaged clients. Since 2020, I personally handled 21 pro bono matters for Community Law Program, in the areas of family law, bankruptcy, and non-profit organizations. Most of St. Petersburg’s poorest residents, who meet the income criteria of Community Law Program, are Black and Brown. I have handled their divorces, their paternity cases, their bankruptcies, and I have assisted them in establishing and governing non-profit organizations.

I have experience evaluating a range of non-profits. My work with Community Law Program allowed me to work with larger non-profit organizations, which receive federal funding and have various entities within them, as well as organizations that are run by a single person. My nonprofit experience with nonprofit entities includes churches, non-partisan groups, cheerleading, animals, and therapy, to name a few. I have been able to evaluate the individual organization’s needs, complete the necessary forms to obtain 501(c) status, and determine what continuing level of support each organization will need to continue its operations.