CJ’s interest in benefits advocacy was sparked in 2003 when she interned at the student-led Community Legal Information Center (CLIC) at Chico State, representing marginalized people with disabilities at SSI/SSDI Administrative Law Judge hearings, as a college student. Three years of interning at CLIC prompted them to attend law school at McGeorge School of Law, where they graduated with a J.D. in 2009. CJ became a member of the bar in 2010 on the heels of the 2008 financial collapse, which was the impetus for a several-year course change to working as a professional singer/songwriter and direct service provider for neurodiverse individuals. CJ found her way back to benefits advocacy at HAC in 2017, where she has worked as a Staff Attorney ever since.
J. D., with Criminal Justice Concentration, University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, 2009
B.A. cum laude, Political Science with Paralegal Certificate, California State University, Chico, 2006
Political Science Student of the Year, Honorable M. Thompson Public Law Service Award