Her Story
About Jennifer
I have been in the advocacy field most of my life, with the last 8 or 10 years being the most active and strong. I'm disabled, and I'm an advocate for other people with disabilities. I worked as a freelance writer and journalist for various websites, writing any type of content from reviews of products to profiles of different organizations based on their disability advocacy background and the different events and things that they hosted, or sponsored, or had happening for the disabled community. For approximately the last year and a half, I've been with Disability Community for Democracy, a peer-run, nonpartisan organization that is entirely volunteer. As Legal and Policy Co-Lead, my main area of expertise is legal and policy issues based on disability. I use my journalistic skills to write about different laws surrounding Disability Justice Policy.
I also have a background in journalism and public relations. I facilitate everything from internal communications with our Regional Legal and Policy Coordinators to helping facilitate our partnerships with different disability justice organizations. I write for our newsletter as well, and I also oversee our Regional Legal and Policy Committee. I also sit on Michigan's Medicaid Beneficiary Advisory Council, so I am doing both national work and state-based work. In 2027, I hope to pursue a legal education and a Master's in Legal Studies and later a Juris Doctor. I believe our voices as disabled people, especially disabled women, are often missed in almost every venue of life.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jennifer
01What do you attribute your success to?
I'm an extremely curious person, and I tend to never give up on anything very easily. It takes a lot for me to give up on something. If you combine those two, and you combine the fact that I'm fairly kind and actually want to take the time with people and assist them however I can in order to help them reach their goal, and therefore learn and help move the progress forward for the disabled community at the same time, I guess my curiosity, my resilience, and my kindness and intelligence are what I attribute my success to.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Be kind but suffer no fools.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Persist. Persist. Educate yourself. And look for every opportunity to help yourself as much as possible, so that you can help encourage someone else, even if it's just one person.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the challenges I face is balancing it all, along with my health. Its a lot, and I presently am seeking some other employment that isn't volunteer. But I need to seek it in such a way where I can still volunteer till my end of my time at Disability Community for Democracy ends at the end of the year. And then also go to school, and take care of myself. I also want to spend time with family and friends more than I have been in the last couple of years. Family and friends are everything to me.I I'm learning all the laws pertaining to disability rights not just for myself, but to perhaps write about it to educate the the general public. and I also hope to assist other people by helping influence policy with legal training.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Kindness, integrity, and emotional intelligence. As someone who also improvises in theater and sings on stage, a sense of humor is also something I value tremendously in myself and in those around me. Things rarely go as we intend them to and when that happens the only thing you can do is do your best to pick up the pieces and move on and sometimes that involves laughing at yourself and realizing everyone make's mistakes and do your best to learn from them. Mistakes and failure are a sign of effort.
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