Episode 1: Origin Stories

Episode Transcript

[00:00:00]Charity : [00:00:20] Hello. Hello and welcome to the Sistahs in Law podcast. My name is Charity Gates, and I will be your host.  This is a podcast featuring intimate conversations with Black women in law.  Every other week, we will listen to stories from Black women about their trials, triumphs, and tribulations navigating careers in the legal field.

 Thank you for joining me for the first episode of the Sistahs in Law podcast. I'm so happy you're here.  

Today, I will be sharing a little bit about the origin story of the podcasts and its beginnings as a physical event series in the before times. Or in other words, the [00:01:00] time before this current moment, we're in, as one of my favorite podcasters, Jenna Wortham, likes to call it.

 So, let's get into it.

Sistahs in Law started out of a desire to create a community of sisterhood amongst black women in law school.   In my third year of law school, I was ideating on ways to connect black women attending law school in New York, specifically, because that's where I was attending school.  I knew people from different schools in the area, but I felt like we didn't really have a way to connect and see each other beyond the NEBLSA events or law firm programs [00:02:00] dedicated to diverse students.  I wanted a way to create a sisterhood community beyond just my own school. Because let's face it only about 5% of lawyers in the us are black and of the 5%. Only about 2% are black women.

We're severely underrepresented in the legal field relative to our population size.   

Charity : [00:02:24] So I really wanted a way to at least connect with the black women law students that were near my area of New York.

 Being a woman in law school is such a nuanced experience, so add on top of that being a black woman in this space.  As a southerner, an ATLien to be exact, shout out to all my Outkast fans out there!  Going to school in the North, especially in a major metropolitan city, like New York, there was such a huge learning curve that I had to overcome both [00:03:00] academically as well as culturally.

 My Southern tendency was to be warm and talk to random people. This characteristic helped me in certain instances but was definitely an "othering" quality in other circumstances.   I feel like it's not really custom in New York to just strike up a small talk conversation with different people as it is in the South.

But I decided to use this quality as a way to bring people together and foster a community. I wanted to cultivate a space where black women in law school could share their experiences openly with others who would basically have a more empathetic ear.  So a couple of weeks before the spring semester, this was about a year ago now, I was sitting in my apartment in Brooklyn, thinking of brunch spots to invite my group of black women [00:04:00] law school friends, so that we could chill and  Kiki over our stories from school. And I found a place ironically called Sisters on the Clinton Hill Bed-Stuy border, which is such a cute brunch spot. I highly recommend once it's safe to do a typical brunch again.

 I wanted the spot to be black-owned, but also be a photogenic place so we could have some bomb photos from the event. I mean, let's be real. We love a cute brunch photo up moment!  It was also an intimate enough space to allow us to conversate with each other and meet some new people.

 First, I sent a massive group text to different black women from my school and others that I knew, and thought would be interested in meeting up.  There was such an exciting reception to the idea. I mean, after all, who doesn't like a [00:05:00] cute brunch? Then I set up an official invite to get a head count and started playing with Paperless Posts. It's this online website that has digital e-vites and holiday cards and different stuff like that. I sent out a gorgeously designed digital invite to the ladies. And then I was inspired to reach out to this Black female attorney who I'd been virtually introduced to by another woman that I met through this magazine video shoot I was part of the summer before.

  So, I decided to shoot my shot and see if she would like to join the brunch and become basically a keynote speaker at the event.  To my surprise, she said yes! And she came to the event to share her story about being a black woman practicing law and her journey to the law.   I'm the type of person who likes to share information [00:06:00] and spread the wealth of my network.

So, it was also an opportunity for my law school friends who came to ask questions to a highly accomplished attorney in a more casual space than we were used to.

 After we took a group photo in front of the ornate Sister's restaurant facade everyone was excited to do it again and were raving about how we needed a space like this.

 My spirit was so full at the end of the brunch. I didn't want it to end. But, with all good things, there has to be an end point.  It was truly a cinematic moment. If I'm being honest.

Everyone was there asking questions and even those who normally don't talk during  events, were able to get in their questions and ask kind of nitty gritty questions that we're not typically allowed to ask during these like [00:07:00] formal events, but that we really would benefit from asking if we did.

 After the first brunch in January, I started thinking about ways to do a part two, especially for those who were unable to make it for the first brunch.  I was thinking of doing a monthly series. So, I decided to set a date for the end of February. And this time I set out to do a dinner rather than a brunch on a weeknight.

  I booked a black-owned restaurant at the Cecile in Harlem.   It was a smaller group than the first time, but we had a nice intimate conversation with another black female attorney who worked in the healthcare industry this time.   She had so many candid remarks about her law firm days and important practical tips for us to use in navigating the early stages of our legal careers.   We went from discussing [00:08:00] LinkedIn hacks to her giving us an intimate story about her first experience with working at a big law firm and becoming a new mom too, during that time. And also, some stories about pay and mentorship as well as sponsorship and how to seek those relationships.  

It was really a great time. She was so open, and it was another opportune time to ask really important questions about being a Sistah in the law that we probably wouldn't be comfortable asking in another context.   The night was another successful event where we were able to share anecdotes from our own budding legal careers and feel the warm validation of fellow Sistahs in Law. Everyone that night raved about how well organized it was and when the next one would be.

I then set off one and [00:09:00] more planning for March thinking, maybe of doing a women's history month themed since March is generally dedicated to women's history. And then the world changed…

I was quarantined at home in Georgia–after escaping the city at the height of the pandemic–and basically reminiscing on the fun gatherings that I had started through Sistahs in Law and wanted to continue. Little did I know towards the end of February, that we would be living in such a different time just days from then.

Everyday because the Sistahs in Law handle is one of the other Instagram accounts on my profile, I saw every day. I was suddenly faced with figuring out a way to transform a physical event themed experience to something that would fit well into the new reality.  I also desired to find a [00:10:00] way to reinvigorate the community that I was trying to cultivate at the beginning of the year. After months of figuring out what to do next, including stops and starts with needing to focus my attention on bar prep. And quick life update, I'm proud to announce that I passed the New York state bar exam on the first time after months and months of studying and postponements and technology issues. It was, it was a whole journey. But that's another podcast episode. If you ever have questions on bar prep and that whole process feel free to reach out to me. on that.

 But back to trying to figure out what to do with Sistahs in Law as a continuation project. The Instagram was slowly gaining followers but didn't feel relevant. So, I was like, what am I going to do? It's a pandemic still, even after several months in quarantine. People can't really go [00:11:00] out like they want to and meet everybody and then most people are tired of having zoom events. So, what can I do that slightly different, but it's still virtual enough to reach people where I can't see right now? And then all of a sudden, the idea hit me. It was like, God, and the universe spoke to me saying you like podcasts. Why don't you just start your own?

And I just kind of ran with the idea. And it stuck.

As a typical law student slash law graduate, at that point, I started researching it and all of a sudden, I saw an ad for a podcast festival, which started a week after I started thinking about the idea. This festival, it was put on by Afros and Audio and it's a group that tries to elevate podcasters of color, especially black podcasters.  It was a great event talking about the [00:12:00] beginnings of podcasting.

There were a lot of seminars about how to start podcasting, important things you need to know in order to get started equipment, editing techniques, ideas for content creation, the legal aspects of podcasting, all those types of things.  It was a really cool event. I highly recommend you check out that group.  

The universe was telling me to just do it. Since the style of events that I hosted were conversation style, it only made sense to continue as a podcast, featuring the same type of guests that I would have invited to the physical brunches or dinner parties, originally planned.  At first, I wanted to do a podcast about fashion law, because when I was in law school, fashion law was a big thing that I focused on, but there weren't a lot of people talking about it. So, I wanted to have more [00:13:00] information out there about it. As I put more thought into it, it just made sense to transition Sistahs in Law as a podcast, something that I had already begun as a project at the beginning of the year.  

So, to sum it all up, boils down to one thing, basically

I want this podcast to be a space for black women in the legal field to share their stories navigating such a white-dominated field. As I said before, I've always been an open person who likes to share things that I have access to. Networks are a place of privilege and it's nice to hear stories from other people that you normally wouldn't be able to discuss in more formal networking environments.

  But I would say that I want the podcast to also free people from the idea that there's only one experience that you can have as a [00:14:00] black woman in law.  There are so many experiences out there, and most people aren't privy to those experiences.  The idea of storytelling and conversation kind of brings out those experiences from people and lets people know that they're not alone in, their journey.  I've got an incredible number of guests lined up for people to hear from extremely talented and accomplished women. There's no other way to put it.

I want these discussions to be a guide for black women who want to pursue legal careers and for those who are already doing so.

  Sharing stories helps us to understand that we're not alone in our journey. The power of one story can make a significant impact on another person's life. So, having access to this oral archive of stories of black women attorneys is the [00:15:00] mission of the podcast.    And that's our show. Thank you for listening, please make sure to follow us on social media. At Sistahs in Law, that's "S" "I" "S" "T" "A" "H" "S" "I" "N" "L" "A" "W" on Instagram and subscribe to our newsletter. I'll probably drop a link on Instagram, but also once I get a website up, I'll link to the show notes that way.

Also, special thank you to David Kariuki Music for the theme song and to Brittany Nguyen for the cover art and graphic designs.

Please don't forget to share the show with anyone who would be interested or who may benefit from these conversations.  

I look forward to seeing you soon!

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