Ruth & Ashleigh are two lawyers, turned Founders of the non-profit organization, Collective For Liberatory Lawyering. They are doing amazing work to end the school to prison pipeline. Here’s more about the impactful work they are doing!

Who and what does your non-profit support?

We co-founded the Collective for Liberatory Lawyering because we wanted to live our values in our daily work. We co-design our work with organizers and impacted parents and young people in service of dismantling the school to prison pipeline across communities in California. We support community led campaigns to change school district, county and state level policies that focus on racial healing, protecting dignity and reimagining safety in schools. We defend the human rights of parents and young people who are criminalized in school with a focus on confronting Anti-Blackness in our education system.

What makes your organization unique?

There is important civil rights litigation history in this country, but leaders in the Black liberation fight have always known that legal structures are only one part of the struggle for transformation. We name our work as a liberatory practice because it focuses on human dignity rather than what is constitutional in a county whose legal legacy has generally upheld white supremacy. As attorneys who co-design with organizers, we consciously name the limits of traditional legal advocacy and focus on using legal expertise in support of community-led investigations, victories and monitoring.

What made you invest in a brand photoshoot?

As social justice focused attorneys who have always worked at nonprofits we had never been a part of a professional photo shoot. As we are preparing to launch our collective we were excited to take this step and have photos that reflect our work and our personalities.

What types of images were you looking for?

We wanted images that felt natural and non-traditional since so many professional legal photos are stiff and serious; we are not traditional attorneys so we didn’t want those kind of photos. We are excited to use these photos on our website that we plan to launch at the end of the summer.

What was your favorite part of the brand photoshoot?

We talked about it after and both agreed that you are a brilliant artist Brittney! You made us so comfortable and we had fun with you. We were both a bit nervous to do the photo session, but you helped us step into a “Boss Queen” energy and celebrated that we’re starting our own organization. Our favorite part was you!!

How did your photoshoot help you with your goals? Would you recommend a brand photoshoot to other women?

You helped us think through how we can use photos and visual stories to share our work. You honored our focus on our community partners and worked with us to creatively ensure that our values and personalities came through in the session. We already have our core partners (clients), but we need a strong website to communicate with funders and the legal community we want to challenge, engage and lovingly disrupt. We will definitely recommend you to anyone else starting their own venture because you supported our confidence, made us feel beautiful and relaxed in this special session.

Are you a Los Angeles woman entrepreneur looking for a brand photographer who can bring your vision and brand to life to impact, inspire and convert clients? You might just be in the right hands compared to what these awesome clients had to say about their experience.