Her Story
About Shannon
I have been practicing law for 17 years, and what inspired me to get into the field was that I wanted to be impactful in helping people. I knew at an early age that I decided I wanted to go into the law to have an understanding of the law and rights, and just being able to advocate for people and helping people navigate challenges. I am currently Senior Counsel at Chevron, where my practice focuses on anti-corruption and compliance. My role is global in nature. A typical day for me starts out with responding to emails, but then also participating in meetings and answering questions on day-to-day business challenges, both in strategic initiatives moving forward, and then also just problem solving for day-to-day challenges at the global operations space. My key responsibilities include staying up-to-date on global regulatory changes, making sure that the business is aware of the regulations that are required in order to support our global operations, conducting trainings for our senior business leaders, contract negotiations, reviewing compliance clauses, and making sure that we're mitigating our risk within our transactions. I also review and vet third parties and counterparties that we do business with globally. I'm someone who is very intentional about giving back to the community and advancing social justice, so I do quite a bit of mentoring and pro bono work in my free time, just making sure to pour back and contribute to bettering society.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Shannon
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say I attribute my success to the people who've helped me along the way. In addition to the obvious, which are my family, I'm a graduate of Howard Law, and it's a school where it has a deep legacy of training Black attorneys. I think we still have the majority of Black attorneys or graduates of Howard Law that are in the profession, and so it is an institution that just instilled excellence in all of us, and just supporting each other. I have great mentors and peers who have been thought partners throughout the years, presented different opportunities throughout the years, and just supportive, like whenever there's trainings or if there's something I don't know, I always have relationships and people that I can call on. I've cultivated a network of people who are invested in my success, and mine and theirs, and just being supportive. I'm someone who pays it forward, so I very much believe in mentoring and connecting people, because that's what was done for me. I didn't have, you know, like my parents have college degrees and they're professionals, but the law profession is something different, and it's an area that's very much you don't know what you don't know, so unless there's people that are willing to take you aside and kind of tell you these things and help you along the way, it's a challenge. In addition to my network, honestly, I've worked for great bosses who've just been very supportive in my career. I was ambitious, and I'd worked for great leaders who gave me opportunities to cultivate skills and experience and put me in rooms. They were all men, but what was helpful in working for them is they have a perspective and were able to use their privilege and experience to give me exposure I otherwise wouldn't have, and also just knew when I'd kind of outgrown wherever I was before, and were supportive of me, because each move I've made has been for growth, and they've always been very supportive. I still have great relationships with all of them. So just a combination of just the relationships I've built over the years, I'd say.
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