In high school, I was so certain I wanted to be a doctor that I took my senior photos in a white lab coat. However, I realized two years into my pre-med coursework that medicine was not for me. While my career path has changed direction since then, my career goal has never wavered: to help and serve others. I realized I could achieve this goal with a law degree after reading a book by Dave Pelzer, A Boy Named ‘It’, in which he describes the attorney who helped him escape child abuse as an “angel.”

After graduating from law school, I immediately sought a job in non-profit work. However, I quickly realized that I could impact people wherever I worked, whether at a non-profit, a firm, or in-house. I also realized how much I enjoyed labor and employment law, where I felt my skills could make the most positive impact on others. After my first job in public interest, I spent the next fifteen years of my career practicing labor and employment in-house for a unionized trucking company. My goal was simple: help everyone with whom I interact to (1) know they are being treated fairly and equitably, and (2) empower people to do their best work.

What attracted me to Stokes Wagner was the Ten Guiding Principles by which the firm operates. Every single principle resonated with me from the application to ethos, pathos, and logos to the embrace of pragmatism, to measuring success by our clients’ results. At the end of the day, I am doing my best work when I am helping clients do their best work.

When I am not practicing law, I love being around my family. I have four children (two girls, two boys), a husband who works in ministry, and three dogs. We are very involved in our local church and love to watch and play baseball together. When we get time, we also love visiting Disney parks together.