Enersi Mateo Luciano

First, God, because I'm a true believer of God. It's my belief, spiritually. And my family, the foundation that I have. Long before I could fully understand the legal system, I grew up surrounded by a story of coercion, public service, and conviction through my grandfather, who fought in the Dominican Civil War for the freedom and democracy of my country. And that legacy continued through my mother's and my aunts who fought for opportunities that many needed back then, including the access to education. They provided me with an education when by the time, they couldn't even afford it. So I think those stories through my grandfather, and then my mothers and my aunts, they planted that seed within me of you have to be strong, you have to be educated, and these experiences shaped the way I came to understand who I am and what I wanted to be. My sister and my father too, he's a lawyer, so I think it's in my blood. I attribute my success to them, and myself, of course, through my effort and all the things that I have come through in this journey.

It's okay to not be perfect all the time. And it's okay to seek for help. You can't think like you know it all, all the time. You have to work with a community in order for you to succeed, because you can't just do things by your own just because you have the educational background or the platform. You're always gonna need people that support you through the process. And also be humble enough to ask for help. In this business, which is mainly men-led, it's okay to ask for help, and it's okay to be outspoken about the things you think that are not correct. And you can't say yes to all the cases just because of the money. You have to be able to say no if the case that you're gonna get or work with is not going to lead you nowhere. You have to have values. You have to be ethics with it. You just can't just go for the money. I learned that through the process and the years, even though I'm a young attorney. That was one of the best advices. It sounds simple and logical, but it's challenging when you're facing life experiences, and then you remind those advices, and you're like, wow, that was right.

You have to open your mind to know that your identity is not just your legal education, or you as a mother, or whatever. You actually have to put meaning in everything that you do in order for you to succeed in whatever you decide to do, but don't have just one identity. You can't be perfect in everything. In order for you to be influential or to provide a good outcome of the things that you do or decide to do, you just have to know that that seed of hope is powerful, what you have within you. Because it reminds every person, in this case woman, that your circumstances don't define your future, and you have to let them know that to other people. I think with the right tools, with the right support, and you believing in yourself, and making people believe in themselves, you can transform their lives and protect their rights. In order for them to hopefully become leaders in their own communities. I want to bridge, and I want women to know that they can bridge between their potential and the opportunities they deserve by offering that legal guidance and legal awareness and mentorship and support. At the end of the day, the help has to be vertical.

It's encouraging for me to be here as a Black woman, as a foreign attorney, as a person who has an accent here in this country. It's so difficult to be an experienced attorney, and then you have to face all these systemic challenges with immigration, and the papers, and all the money that you're investing to validate your degree here. It's a thing. This is the country of opportunities, but also it's a very challenging environment when you are not from here. You have to work three, four times harder than a Native American or a person who was born here. I think that is really mentally, sometimes draining. It's very hard to start over, and mostly when people don't see references of women from my country coming here and being successful. But this is a great opportunity to be like what I was explaining. I did it, I passed the exam to get into law school, and they consolidated my degree. I just have to spend one year instead of three years in a JD, which is a big accomplishment. But the financial part of validating my degree here is challenging. They don't give us scholarships because I'm a foreign attorney. They think maybe you have the money for it, or they're concerned about stats and rankings. They told me if you can prove you as a foreign attorney can add value, if you can really be on the top students, we can give you a scholarship. So it's like you're a foreign attorney, we accept you, but you have to be better than anyone in order for us to give you a scholarship. It's always the systemic thing here. If you're not from here, you have to be like the best of the best so we can give you options and opportunities. Sometimes it's draining to always be proving yourself as a foreign attorney, or as a Black woman, as a woman itself. But I'm a strong woman, I know I can do it. I think we should all be treated equally at this point when you have the qualifications. You should have the access to it like everybody else.

I think you have to have ethics, of course. You have to be disciplined, you have to have leadership, you have to communicate with your colleagues efficiently. You have to be strategic. You have to be able to have the education, of course, and to have the access to always be in constant learning through the process, not just stay there. Everything is changing so fast and more with the technology. You have to be humble enough to know you have to keep yourself educated and updated with the changes of the law every minute. And have legal awareness, and have somebody who will mentor you, and support you in the right path. Have the right guidance, and be able to offer good guidance for people. I think that's one of the best things that a lawyer in my case has to have.