Undergraduate institutions attended and degrees earned
University of Maryland Baltimore County – Bachelor of Arts, Political Science

Hometown – City, State, and Country (if not the U.S.)
Severn, Maryland

Extracurricular and co-curricular activities
University of Maryland Francis King Carey National Trial Team; Executive Editor – Maryland Journal of International Law

Post-graduation plans
Clerkship at the Circuit Court of Anne Arundel County for the Honorable Judge William C. Mulford, II; Associate at Hillman, Brown & Darrow, P.A.

What was your most memorable moment?
Winning a personal award at my first competition for the Maryland National Trial Team out of dozens of teams from all over the nation and hundreds of competitors.

Finish this sentence: I could not have gotten through this experience without …
My family and friends – you know who you are!

Who are your mentors? How have they impacted your journey?
My mentors are Sarah Samaha and Professor David Gray. Sarah was my peer advisor, so in the most literal sense, she was my mentor. However, she was also my mentor outside of law school in so many ways; she challenged me, encouraged me to take risks and never failed to give me her sound advice when needed. Professor Gray was also a mentor who had an enormous impact on my journey. Besides always making time to listen to my endless questions, he continued to believe in me and always pushed me to expect more of myself, because he knew I could accomplish much more than I thought I could.

What did you learn about yourself while earning this degree?
I learned to trust myself more and my abilities to succeed. Law school can, at times, do a great job of making you doubt yourself or your instincts, especially when compared to your peers. For me, law school helped refine my confidence in my gut instincts and also taught me that I love black coffee.

Who was your favorite professor and why?
Sorry, but I have two – Professor David Gray and Professor Michael Van Alstine. Both professors make you want to come to class every day and learn. They have an amazing presence in the classroom and they always made time to help me when I needed help. Aside from that, their passion for what they do is evident in every lecture, office hour meeting or email. I look up to them for the enthusiasm and dedication they each have and I hope to imbue that enthusiasm and dedication in my work every day.

What was your favorite class and why?
This is a tough one. My top 4 were criminal law, criminal procedure, contracts and business associations, but business associations with Professor William Moon would have to take the cake. Professor Moon made class inviting and fun with his Shark Tank videos and creative hypotheticals. He has a great talent for making complicated information easily digestible. Aside from the professor, the material was just as interesting. I learned to love learning about different business entities and business disputes and I hope to deal with some of that work in my future career because of this class.

Write a message.
Thank you Dad, Mom, Mirette and Alex for always believing in me and dealing with me through my highs and lows! Thank you Sarah and Danny for keeping me sane, listening to my endless stories and always being there for me. Thank you Gaby, Miraie, Rachel Saleeb, Julia and Natalie for your constant words of encouragement and faith in me. Thank you Rachel Brocker for the late night dance sessions in the library and lecture rooms while we studied for finals. Thank you Gregory Jimeno and Frank Gray for being great mentors and for all the patience and lessons you provided me with early on. Thank you to my co-workers at Hillman, Brown & Darrow, for entrusting me to serve our clients well and for always challenging me to be better than I was yesterday. Thank you God for getting me this far.