Few people know that I decided I wanted to be a lawyer when I was nine years old. Not because I came from a family of attorneys, to the contrary. I was a poor girl in rural Alabama with no ties to lawyers or silver spoons. I decided I wanted to be a lawyer for the most noble reason: I was captivated by Matlock and Perry Mason. Ha!! Funny, but true! Even as a kid, I understood that law wasn’t just about the rules, but as Andy Griffith so eloquently conveyed, it was about the strategy of finding and protecting the truth. My origin story probably looks a lot like yours... a few small crumbs leading to a much bigger picture.

I was raised by a working mom who held it all together while raising four kids, most of that time on her own. She didn’t have time for appearances. She got up every day and did what needed to be done. That shaped me. So did watching my dad lose a business he’d worked hard to build. As a child, I learned that good people can fall short when they don’t have the right structure behind them.

Eventually, I learned that lesson myself in what we might today call a generational cycle. I became a single mom during my first year of law school. That kind of pressure required focus, resilience, and strength that can only be developed when there’s no cushion... and no room for excuses. It was grueling and often left me with little hope, but I persevered because, frankly, there was no other choice. And maybe you are doing that now. If so, it's okay. We do what we have to do.

I am now on the other side of that myself, and I am building my family's legacy with that same mindset: grit. I now have the freedom to choose who I work with, and that led to the successful launch of my own law firm, and several other business ventures since.

I choose to work with people who, like me, didn’t inherit shortcuts but are building something meaningful. I work with people who want to do it right, even when it’s hard.

If that’s you, then we’re already on the same page.