Her Story
About Faride
I grew up with not a lot of money and saw my parents struggling to get access to basic survival resources, struggling to find work, and not really being respected at their jobs. I wanted to alleviate that and represent people that were struggling and needed support. I also grew up in an area that was really highly policed, and I saw a lot of my friends get sent to jails and prisons. It was all around me all the time, and I knew that I understood something there, that I could be of value to people who were experiencing these things. I decided that I wanted to do something where I would advocate for people that were living in vulnerable circumstances and that wanted to improve and needed support. That's really what led me to law school - wanting to do something good for the world and to support people that were struggling. I've been an attorney for about 8 years now. I started doing mostly advocacy work around incarceration, then moved into reentry work and eventually policy work around the rights of people that were incarcerated. When I was at the ACLU of Northern California, I loved doing policy work and speaking with people in Congress, state legislature, and people in really powerful positions, being there to speak for and from the community that I was a part of. I wrote a report about reproductive justice in jails and prisons that I'm really proud of. I got an additional certificate in labor and employment law when I was in law school, and I really liked the intersection of civil rights law and constitutional law. The work around incarceration was very heavy, so I decided to switch and do something a little bit different but still within my interests. Now I'm representing the state of California to enforce the labor rights and anti-retaliation work for farmworkers, discovering if there are any violations of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act and ensuring that farmworkers can assert their rights even though they're in a really vulnerable situation, making sure they're protected and that they feel they can speak up without facing retaliation or losing their jobs.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Faride
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think the biggest advice I can give is that everything is possible, that dreams do come true, that it doesn't matter where you come from or what you're dealing with. All of these challenges that come in your life are things that will teach you lessons, and while you may not know that in the moment and while you are struggling in that moment, when you come out of it, you come out stronger and you come out with experiences that people won't have. I would say to embrace that experience, embrace those difficult moments, because really, you can achieve anything that you want. I'm a testament to that as somebody who could not have imagined this life that I have now. I could not have seen that. It's never easy, but it is worth trying because it can change your life. I think community is so important - centering the people in your life. You are here for your community and they are there for you. There are always people that come into my life that give me life, give me meaning, and give me motivation. I say I could have done it alone, but it's just so much more fulfilling when you have people there that are there to celebrate you and to be there for you in difficult times.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would ask if they've had the time to think about it, to really think about what they want in their life. I think a lot of us go into it without really thinking about what we want our futures to look like, and I think taking a step back is okay. It's okay to really try to understand yourself before diving into a career. And once you're in that career, it's okay to shift, it's okay to modify it in the way that's most fulfilling to you. But really, taking the time to understand yourself, taking the time to understand what is the most joyful thing for you, and that it is possible to have exactly what you want and to work exactly for that.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think there's an opportunity to support people that have really been struggling in this time with immigration issues. I think there's an opportunity for me to learn about a newer field for me and to really try to figure out how somebody like me can make a difference in that. It's a wild, wild west right now. There's no order. I think it's purposeful to try to cause this chaos, to make us feel like there's hopelessness, like we're powerless. But that's a ploy, that's the tactic, and I think we have to be able to see beyond that. Things have been bad before, and we can do something. I don't know what that is right now, but we can do something.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think community is the most important value to me. It's centering the people in your life and not trying to do everything on your own. At the same time, you are here for your community and they are there for you. I think it's so difficult nowadays to have that, to establish that, and to feel like that's something that you have access to in real life. That's really been the guide for me. I think there are always people that come into my life that give me life, give me meaning, and give me motivation. I say I could have done it alone, but I think it's just so much more fulfilling when you have people there that are there to celebrate you and to be there for you in difficult times. When I think about the positions that I've had, it's really trying to be responsive to the community that I'm a part of.
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