Closing the Wealth Gap One Family at a Time

I am a first-generation lawyer who is passionate about educating the African American community about how to close the wealth gap and build generational wealth, one family at a time.

The matriarchs of my family were medical professionals. My maternal grandmother was a nurse, as were her three daughters. Her oldest grandchild, my brother and one of the most influential advisors in my life, is a physician. Growing up around this bunch, I knew one thing was for sure. I wanted no part of the health care field!

As a baby lawyer, just starting to open my eyes to what it meant to see and analyze a fact pattern in real life, I noticed that one health crisis could bankrupt a family. This realization shaped my work as a lawyer, advocate, and community educator. I may not wear a lab coat or scrubs, but access to resources available to assist with health care costs is an essential component of my daily work.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I would speak one night a week at a local senior center, church, or community group to educate families on the importance of planning. Whether the topic was estate planning, long-term care planning, or asset protection, the complexion of the audience told its own story. It became clear that wealth preservation and generational wealth were not well-known or understood concepts in many communities. I have been known to say the pandemic is a gift and a curse. One of the many gifts is the ability to have a wider reach with the same effort. In a post-COVID world, the work must continue, just differently. Access to information is no longer limited to those who can travel to a specified location. The reach is more widespread.

This passion is reignited whenever I meet an African American law student or a freshly minted lawyer who is interested in the work and has the bedside manner necessary to spread the word in our community. This passion gets reignited whenever I work with a family to break the cycles of their past that otherwise would have impeded their goal of building generational wealth.