What drew you to social policy research and why did you choose the Heller PhD program?
I think the trajectory of my academic career was always going to end up in this space. I was initially medical school-bound after college, but a conversation with my mentors inspired me to instead go into public health, a field I knew nothing about. My focus was on understanding medical history and health disparities and what was contributing to a lot of the gaps I noticed in Black communities, especially those that I grew up in. I thought I could be a really good medical doctor, but realized that in order for me to help alleviate or address some of the issues I was seeing in medicine, I needed to go into policy.
I ultimately went into studying epidemiology and health policy at Drexel for my master's, then got my MBA and spent 10 years in the consulting field, working with the Department of Defense and conducting research for returning veterans. The work was heavily policy-based, something I’m very passionate about. I was part of the team that wrote a lot of the TRICARE management policies for veterans. I love being able to help craft the narratives and the practices that are going to impact people one day.
When I made the decision to go back for my doctorate, I was specifically interested in working with Tom Shapiro. My mentors introduced me to his work many years earlier, and I was excited about the opportunity to learn from and work alongside him. At the time I applied, I was the director of the Dually Involved Youth Initiative in Santa Clara, California, living bicoastally. I connected with some Brandeis folks at a conference I was keynoting. We had an amazing conversation, and I made my decision on the spot to continue my policy journey at Heller.
Describe your dissertation research.
My dissertation was focused on writing the practice mechanisms for the Racial Justice Act in California. A few years ago, the state created a mechanism to engage in legal redress for people who had been racially harmed in the [criminal legal] system and to determine if race was a motivator in the decisions or the sentences that they received. The Racial Justice Act was a way to potentially reopen these cases and get the outcomes reexamined. While the state did write the policy component, there were no practice mechanisms. I had already been very active in this area, especially on the northern side of California with my work in the youth legal systems, having done many presentations and conference keynotes on how we can improve legal outcomes when race was a factor. A dear friend of mine who's a public defender in the state suggested that since I was already doing all of this work, why not just write the mechanics of the Racial Justice Act.
I contacted some of the judges that I worked with, and gave them a template of what it could look like. I put on two or three workshops for all of the public defenders across Northern California, which ballooned into workshops for the attorneys across the state in general. Ultimately, this led to me writing the mechanics of how the Racial Justice Act could be used to help the people who have been harmed by the system.
What was your career trajectory after graduating from Heller?
I've often navigated many roles at the same time. I’ve worked at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy since 2021, where I’m currently Deputy Director of Community Development and Enhancement at the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform. In this role, I've been involved in several grants and do a lot of the professional development for the executive directors, judges, legal advocates and community workers.
In July of 2023, after graduating from the Heller PhD program, I took on the inaugural Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion role at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The PUC recruited me not only because of what I’m doing practically, but because I’m actively teaching in the field—one of the things that they wanted me to continue to do was to learn and teach, and then bring that experience back to the PUC.
Since graduating, I’ve been honored to be recognized by the City and County of San Francisco and the Mayor's Office as one of the top 25 African Americans in the city and county. Through both my prior work in the field and the teachings from professors at Heller, I’ve also been able to work with Supreme Courts all across the country to help advance youth justice.
What has been the most impactful aspect of your Heller PhD experience?
Heller gave me a network of scholars who helped shape my thinking. I came specifically to work with Tom Shapiro, and now he’s a dear friend of mine, and I have even brought him to California to work on a project with me. Similarly, I got to work with Raj Sampath, who is nothing short of brilliant, and the late Robert Dunigan, whom I miss dearly. I appreciated our many conversations and the ways they challenged me to grow. Those same folks were able to guide my dissertation in ways that not only benefited me personally, but benefited the entire state of California, so for that, I will forever be grateful.
It was humbling to be around people who understood the reality of my situation of having to work at a high level in the courts and be a student at the same time and try to make that work for me. I'm deeply grateful to the professors there who understood that, as well as my fellow students and cohort.
What advice would you give to prospective students who are considering a PhD in social policy?
If you're coming directly from an undergraduate program, absorb the theoretical foundations and understand their limitations, that sometimes the real world doesn't function according to theory. It can be highly beneficial to get some experience in the field and gain perspective about policy versus implementation. When you enter the program, think about what it is that you want to do and what you want to potentially focus on, and let every course be an opportunity to build that foundation. For me, because I was already in the field, every paper that I wrote for every course was structured around the heart of my dissertation. Before I even sat down to write a word, I had tons of pages written because I knew exactly where I wanted that work to lead.