“I come from a family torn apart by civil unrest in China and Taiwan. My parents escaped this and came to the Bay Area, where I was born. I feel very lucky to have grown up here, surrounded by lots of different people from different backgrounds.

When I went to college in Hawaii, and later lived in Taiwan and South Africa, I encountered even more diversity. Living in these places opened my eyes to the challenges communities face all over the world. I became involved in activism but soon realized that being an activist wasn’t enough. I needed to understand the law. After some time working as a paralegal, I went to law school to go into social justice work.

I’m currently a litigation intern at Open Door Legal. I’m working on a case right now where our client was battered and assaulted while waiting in the car for his wife, who was buying groceries. He had done nothing wrong. The security guard assaulted him because of the way he looked and was perceived. This case stood out to me as a reminder of how unfairly law is enforced. I would never have to worry about being attacked when I shop for groceries, but this man — who is just as undeserving and innocent as me — does. That’s not okay.

To me, it’s all about using my education and experiences to make the law work for everyone. That San Francisco was and remains very segregated has always bothered me. I want to fight this and protect underserved communities. I’ve always wanted to go into social justice work, and that’s where I want to stay.”

Photography © Jona Bocari