Shakira Kelley

I attribute where I am today 100% to my mentors, especially in the first three to five years of my profession as I was professionally coming out. My mentors were Barbara White, Daniel Isinger, and Christine Garrity. They not only showed me the legal law and how to practice, but those foundational values like staying true to yourself, representing your client, and what client-centered representation is. Those values don't matter what area you go into. The mentoring, the time, the shadowing, going to court, and doing all these things really shaped what I do today because they invested their time and their skills, and they really believed that I could do it. Then they celebrated my achievements. I think mentoring is so important, and I'm grateful I got it in my beginning years because what they taught me from a young age gave me the confidence and allowed me to understand that I should mess up, that if I'm not making mistakes, I'm not learning. It allowed me to understand and learn from those mistakes and move on.

The best career advice I've ever received is to be true to yourself. When you're seeking a new position or seeking anything, don't just put your best foot forward. Figure out what you want, and if this career, or this client, or this firm, or whatever it is, is a match to what your values are and what you actually want. Continue to lead with integrity, because people that you think you're never going to cross paths with, 10 years later, you just don't know. Professionally, all you have is your name. It doesn't matter who you work for, it doesn't matter what you do. At the end of the day, it's your name, it's your life. If you're not leading with truth and integrity, that can follow you, and once you lose your reputation, I mean, you're done for. I've never deviated from that because I really felt that in 15 years. I moved to a completely different state. I knew everyone in Florida, I knew all the judges, I knew all the lawyers, but when I moved here, I didn't know anyone. I really had to start my career from scratch again. But then, unbeknownst to me, so-and-so who knew so-and-so led me back to my Florida connections, and they referred me. It was word of mouth and those connections from over 10 years ago, people I met once, one time.

My advice would be understanding that it's still a very ego-driven, male-driven industry. In order to succeed, you don't have to lose yourself or lose your values. Don't diminish yourself for the sake of wanting to get on the partner's good side. Don't go grab them coffee, don't go pick up their dry cleaning. I was asked to do all those things as a young lawyer, all the secretarial stuff. Really stand up for yourself and understand that you're an attorney. There's a level of not diminishing yourself or your light for the sake of making someone else look good, feel better, or feel important. Lawyers like to feel important. Even if it's legal work, if you're drafting something or preparing something, and at the end of the day you wrote it and they're going to put their name on it and file it with the court, push and say that's fine, but can my name also be at the bottom of that pleading? Always stand up and have your voice and don't sell yourself short. It's still very much a male-dominated world, and because our job is fighting, the nature of litigation is objecting and disagreeing. It gets very heated, so women are told demeaning stuff and they try to put them in the corner. A woman naturally has an instinct to keep the peace and move it along and be professional, and what happens is they take advantage of that. It's important to continue that professionalism, but to maintain you and your client's best interests, and do not back down, do not be intimidated, and do not be bullied. The way to do that is being true to yourself. If something's not sitting right and you know it's incorrect or not right, have to open your mouth and say no, I object, or no, that's not okay, or I'm sorry, you can't speak to me that way, I'm going to end this call until you calm down, or I'm going to have to get a third party. Stay true to yourself and don't lose your voice.

Integrity and honesty are the most important values to me in both my work and personal life. These values are fundamental to everything I do.