Briale Harris, former Marketing intern for New York Minute, tells us about her formative experiences with New York Minute and how she was inspired to use her voice to fight for women and children.
(Interview has been condensed for clarity.)
What are some of your core values, and how did they line up with our values here at New York Minute?
As a woman growing up in a family that was dominated by women, I feel like my values of being independent, strong, [and] of being educated all aligned perfectly with New York Minute. And that’s why I enjoyed the internship so much – you know, Sarah always tells us, “Be badasses.”
How did NYMM impact you or the way you view the world?
NYMM has shaped the way I’ve viewed the world by exposing me to the many efforts taken by everyday women to achieve goals against all odds. As an intern reading the articles being published every day, it made me very angry to learn that women did not have the rights they rightfully deserved. During my internship at NYMM, I realized how much of women’s rights were [being] taken from them.
What are your plans for the future?
I decided to take a big leap and register for the LSAT because I know that in the society that we live in today, we need more powerful women to speak up and take control. For instance, women getting denied government support, the court not properly handling a domestic violence case, and women getting raped by men simply because they refused a drink at the bar! Hearing that stuff on the news and reading up on it on NYMM makes me furious!
I plan on being a very, very important person one day – maybe the first woman Chief of Staff of the White House, because they haven’t had any; or maybe the mayor of the city of Atlanta, or a local activist – anything where I can touch people’s lives the way NYMM has touched mine, or the way other women in my field have touched my life. I want to do something that lets me change lives, makes things better for women and children, and gives voices to people that don’t have a voice.
How do you plan on making these dreams a reality?
The last time I checked, women make up 27 percent of Federal and State Judges. In my opinion, that isn’t enough. Therefore, my goal will be to open my own private practice and combine my love of law and public relations [to] bring in more women politicians [and] to change an industry that has been dominated by men for so long. [I want to] help women, whether it be in the court of law or [with] building their own businesses from the ground up.
What are some of the things that put you on this path toward fighting for gender equality?
Without NYMM, I would have never discovered that passion. NYMM has influenced me to stop waiting around for the next woman to make that change and instead be that change.
Overall, I know that with the knowledge of women’s rights NYMM has provided me, I can do anything I set my mind to do. As for my vision for the future, NYMM has influenced that by exposing me to the tremendous amount of work that needs to done not only in the United States but in other countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Kenya.
Thank you for your time, Briale, and best of luck!
Featured Image by ELSA International on Flickr
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