Demoya Gordon ’06

A Macalester internship showed me that I could use my skills to move the ball of justice, equity, and fairness up the hill, and that in doing so, I would still be able to support myself and my family.

Demoya Gordon ’06

Going to law school was always The Plan. I had strict Caribbean parents who thought law, medicine, and engineering were the only acceptable career paths. I associated being a lawyer with making lots of money—and I felt a little guilty starting at Macalester, knowing how my parents were stretching to send me there—but my primary motivator was never money. I had always been drawn to questions of rights and struggles. So I chose Sociology of Race and Ethnicity as my FYC and fell in love with reading and thinking about how we as individuals fit into systems.

After my sophomore year, I got a Lily Foundation grant that supported internships that would help you find your vocation. Through Career Services, I found a spot with the Children’s Law Center in Minneapolis, whose mission is to provide representation for children in the welfare system. Suddenly I had a model of attorneys using their talents to advance equity and justice. I saw that I could use my skills to move the ball of justice, equity, and fairness up the hill, and that in doing so, I would still be able to help support my family.

Since law school at UC Berkeley, my career has included commercial litigation in Minneapolis with Faygree, Drinker, Biddle; LGBTQ rights litigation in New York with Lamba Legal; and working as a supervising attorney at the NYC Commission on Human Rights. Currently, I serve as a quasi-judicial appellate officer in Chicago, resolving discrimination complaints for the State of Illinois. Formative experiences at Mac created the space for me to reflect—on intergroup struggles and human rights, on the challenges and benefits of a legal career—and enabled me visualize my future.

Students might be reassured to know that there’s not a specific point where you figure everything out. Macalester helped me to shift The Plan into my plan, and it gave me the confidence to recognize that building a future is an iterative process.

Last updated: October 2025