I liked business -- a lot. In my second year of law school, I decided to get an MBA from Miami Business School. I spent my summer studying for the GMAT while interning at The Social Media Law Firm. During my time at The Social Media Law Firm, I did a host of work pertaining to social media law: I prepared and filed trademark applications and responded to trademark office actions; drafted and revised contracts for start-up clients including mobile app, work-for-hire, and venue agreements; and prepared legal documents such as cease and desist letters, photo release forms, and nondisclosure agreements. I also interned for Social Media Law and Order, which was the marketing side of The Social Media Law Firm. There I did social media and digital marketing work for attorneys, complying with the strict attorney advertising rules.  

While taking first-year MBA classes, I also completed an externship at Venture Law Project, which provides pro bono legal services for startup clients in Miami -- a nice complement to the work I was doing at The Launch Pad. After working at Venture Law Project, I was accepted into the Larry Hoffman|Greenberg Traurig Start-Up Law Practicum at UM, a clinic that aids new ventures with intellectual property, organizing, financing, talent, risk, regulation and other legal issues that arise for entrepreneurs as they launch their new businesses. I was granted Limited Recognition to Practice in front of the USPTO for trademark matters. This is a formal certification so that students can appear directly before the USPTO on behalf of their clients in trademark and patent applications. Miami Law is one of only twenty-six law schools in the nation, and the only one in the state of Florida, to receive this certification for both trademarks and patents from the USPTO.  

I joined the Intellectual Property Law Society at UM in my first year of law school and joined its mentorship program. Through my assigned mentor, I joined The Launch Pad at UM as a venture consultant and legal fellow. The Launch Pad is the university resource for entrepreneurship at UM where students schedule meetings to develop their start-up ideas into legitimate ventures. At The Launch Pad, I met with entrepreneurs one-on-one to discuss their business ideas through the lens of marketing, legal, management, finance, and more. I have coached entrepreneurs that have gone on to win first place at the business pitch competitions in Miami. Being in that environment, I began to love business -- so much that I wanted to start my own.

I started a marketing company in summer of '16 with a focus on building successful, branded Instagram pages for freelancers, thought leaders, start-ups, and small businesses. I had a lot of experience marketing on Instagram due to my status as a micro-influencer in the car community with over 15k followers on Instagram. I hustled day and night to get started, and it paid off when I got my first big client -- a former Olympic athlete who sought me for help with personal branding. Since then, I have helped award-winning filmmakers, vodka labels, and fitness models grow their online presence -- always keeping an eye out for the FTC rules that influencers must abide by.

In fall of '17, I entered the University of Miami Business Plan competition where I placed as a semi-finalist with my idea for Cherry Bomb Media Group (pitch deck here.) Because of my well-received pitch, I was contacted by the organizers of UHack, a 24-hour hackathon at UM, to give a presentation on tips for pitching to judges and investors. I was asked to deliver a guest lecture on marketing strategies and the legal pitfalls to watch out for when creating marketing campaigns for clients. I was invited to judge a business plan competition at Florida International University. I was chosen to present a case brief on the Star Athletica case in front of the Miami Chapter of the Copyright Society of the USA. I was recruited to give various presentations on entrepreneurship, my experience with my start-up company, and what it was like to be in the JD/MBA program.