I’m a Native Floridian: born in Fort Lauderdale, and then we moved to Boca Raton when I was 8.  I graduated from Saint Andrew’s School in 1990, and then headed off to Emory University in Atlanta.  I swam for Emory for 2 years (more about my athletics in another post), and am a proud Delta Gamma!  Where all my DGs at???!!  Those years at Emory were literally some of the best years of my life.  I learned so much about myself, and made friendships that are still going strong today.  And, of course, I drank way too much a time or two…. 🙂

I graduated from Emory in 1994 with a B.A. in both History and Political Science (can you say worthless), and then headed slightly south and west to Mercer University School of Law in Macon, Georgia.  I chose Mercer because it was small and I would have access to the professors, and was generally free of distractions (i.e. college football).  I graduated from Mercer in 1997 with my J.D., and eventually (gotta love waiting for the feds to act) got a job in Atlanta, working for the Federal Labor Relations Authority.  Why that job, you ask?  Well, I knew I didn’t want to be an ambulance chaser, and corporate law was just not my jam.  Growing up, my Dad was the president of a construction company, and was constantly complaining about the labor unions.  I don’t think he realized I was listening, but I was.  So when I got to Mercer, I made sure to sign up for Labor Law I.  It was in that class that I met the best professor I’ve ever had, my mentor, and my second Dad, Anthony Baldwin.  He challenged me to think in ways I never had before, embarrassed the hell out of me in class, but still made me laugh.  I ended up taking Labor Law II and Labor Arbitration from him as well.  By the time I graduated, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in labor law, most likely with the National Labor Relations Board, which is the federal agency that governs private sector labor law (i.e. private companies, the employees who work for them, and the labor unions which represent the employees).  Dr. Baldwin was so special to me that he was the one who hooded me at graduation–I will try to find a pic of that.  You guys will die when you see my hair.  🙂