During my two years participating in the Laidlaw Research Scholar Program, I have become deeply grateful for the opportunity to examine my leadership far beyond conventional notions of visibility or authority. Instead, this journey has gave me the confidence to evaluate my character, ethical responsibilities, and professional values as an emerging leader navigating the possilbities of a professional career that intersects legal compliance, governance, and health equity. My evolution as a leader to now someone who is deeply invested in exploring compliance-minded advocacy began during our cohort retreat at the Avila Retreat Center in Fall 2025.
While constructing vision boards alongside my peers, I found myself reflecting on the fundamental balance between ethics and institutional execution I wanted to be apart of. I questioned whether I could achieve high-level operational success while remaining persistent to the core values and community roots that brought me into this program in the first place. I had to decide whether to remain solely within the familiar bounds of frontline volunteering or commit to developing the competencies necessary to navigate the frameworks that chose systemic outcomes. As we start concluding that exercise, I added scales of justice, balances, and pill bottles to my board. Instead of pasting generic symbols of academia, I cut out pieces of research/policy papers, adding my own name to the byline. I wanted to hold myself accountable to find a LiA and place where I would come to understand systemic architecture rather than merely critiquing it. The Laidlaw Foundation gave me the license to take that intellectual risk, setting the tone for how I approached ethical leadership and regulatory standards throughout my second half of the fellowship and beyond.
This reflection carried through our coursework and colloquium, but it was during my LiA that frameworks of ethical leadership transformed into my passion of operational compliance. This summer I had the honor of serving as a Legal Health Intern at the International Rescue Committee’s New York office within the Children’s Legal Services Department. Before starting this experience, transformative leadership seemed to be an abstract concept. I stepped directly into the role with task of mastering administrative machinery where mandates, application backlogs, and regulatory standards dictate the future of unaccompanied youth. Instead of operating strictly as an outside activist, I has to transition into an analyst.
My casework required building audit-ready records, evaluating trauma under clinical criteria, and navigating complex filings before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services or what we called USCIS. Daily, our team ensured that vulnerable minors satisfied federal regulations to secure lawful status, while simultaneously navigating federal verification frameworks to secure Social Security cards, Work Permits, and REAL IDs. In an administrative system characterized by rigid deadlines and zero margin for clerical error, compliance was not a red tape or cautionary tale; it was the baseline prerequisite for our client’s safety.
This was not leadership in theory, as it carried life or death implications for the thirty-nine minors we supported. Navigating these high-stakes requirements was emotionally taxing, but it was precisely where the 3C Leadership Model and the Oxford Character Project frameworks of integrity and accountability grounded my practice. Competence meant mastering Title 8 immigration statutes, country-condition evidence, and clinical intake methodologies to ensure every affidavit withstood scrutiny. Through 3C, I learned character meant maintaining fidelity when the work became overwhelming, such as staying at the New York Public Library past 7:00 PM because that was the only operational window a working minor had to review legal documentation. Context required recognizing that these children were navigating a system that was not built for them barred by complex federal regulations that even that professionals struggle to understand.
Along the way, what surprised me most was that ethical leadership in compliance often begins with disciplined silence. Prior to this summer, I equated effective leadership with assertiveness. In practice, building legally sound cases required observation. Listening proved to be an essential regulatory tool, as giving these children the autonomy to recount their experiences generated accurate, uncompromised narratives that could legitimately support their claims for asylum. What troubled me deeply was observing the systemic fragmentation between legal and social services, where a lapse in physical and mental healthcare can derail an active immigration petition, leading to administrative removal of the client. Yet, I was inspired by the agile problem-solving within our small team to keep exploring why this was the case. When administrative workflows failed to accommodate the reality of our clients' schedules or emotional well-being, I redesigned our case tracking systems and adapted intake protocols. We demonstrated that diligence and advocacy are not mutually exclusive; rather, sustainable public interest work requires relentless hardwork in pursuing both.
It requires recognizing that the legal precarity of unaccompanied migrants is shaped by global policy, and regulatory decisions. As I look ahead toward concluding my Laidlaw fellowship and pursuing a legal career, my leadership vision is clear. I intend to lead at the intersection of legal compliance and health.
Laidlaw equipped me with a durable moral toolkit and an analytical base, instilling the idea that true advocacy requires understanding the rules deeply enough to challenge their inequities, ensuring that justice and humanity always align.