INTERVIEW BY MADELINE ELKES
NATALIE LEWIS, NOMINEE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE SENATOR MELANIE LEVESQUE, DISTRICT 12
What inspires you to pursue your desired career path?
Long term, I would love to have a career in the legal field. That is one of the goals that I am building my skills to attain. As of the last couple of months, the movement that has absolutely lit my fire more than ever has been the Black Lives Matter movement. Having the opportunity to spearhead the first rally in my hometown has been both eye opening and transformative for me. I would love to pursue a career in either civil rights law or family law.
My interests in family law are supported by my experience working at a nonprofit organization that supports victims and survivors of domestic and sexual assault. I interned at Bridges in Nashua, NH, two years ago, and there is where I started to build my advocacy skills. That is where I felt like I could make a difference. Having that experience has translated to my new found organizer status with the Black Lives Matter movement and given me some confidence to share my knowledge and help support my community.
More on the suffrage movement: Not enough people are talking about the murder of Black women under the guise of the BLM movement or the murder of black trans women. For me, I see potentially with the suffrage movement, the modern suffrage movement, getting more women in politics, getting more women equal pay, which is another issue in of itself. I think that times up and we really need to come out and show up and speak out because black women deserve better, they have always deserved better, and we are a part of the suffrage movement whether people recognize it or not.