Meet Alyssa
Alyssa Johnson, Esq.
Wellness and Racial Literacy Coach
Alyssa is a former practicing attorney with a rich and varied career. She received a B.A. in French and Political Science from Indiana University in 2001 and a J.D. from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law in 2004. After practicing law for a few years in Washington, D.C., she transitioned to corporate America.
In 2013, Alyssa left the legal profession to study trauma, psychology, the neuroscience of productivity, and racialized (race-based) trauma. In 2020, Alyssa returned to the legal field not to practice law, but to work with lawyers and legal organizations on topics related to well-being including: expanding emotional intelligence, teaching productivity tools rooted in neuroscience, and working with White people to address racialized trauma.
These topics are deeply interconnected, often rooted in trauma. When individuals are in a trauma state, their ability to access emotional intelligence and their highest levels of reasoning (crucial for productivity) is compromised. For White people, racialized trauma can prevent meaningful, impactful race conversations with people of Color.
Alyssa's work connects the dots between: 1) emotional intelligence and trauma, 2) the interplay between emotions, critical thinking, and productivity, and 3) the impacts of racialized trauma on dismantling White supremacy. With the information and tools Alyssa teaches, lawyers can access greater states of well-being by addressing the root of their behaviors.
Recognition
Alyssa’s Story
I was working 70-80 hours/week and just couldn't figure out what the point was. I had too much to do and no training on how to prioritize tasks, partner with clients, or manage the expectations of my supervising attorneys.
I practiced law the way I was taught: working too much, steadily on call, always putting out fires, constantly getting criticized for not completing tasks more quickly. I made poor choices for my health and well-being. I didn't eat nourishing foods. I drank too much. I didn't honor my feelings.
Most devastating to me was that I viewed the world from a really negative place. I lost sight of love and joy. Without love and joy, I felt hopeless. I was another unhappy lawyer in a sea of unhappy lawyers. I wasn't aware of anyone who could show me a different way of practicing. I felt like my heart was dead.
My dissatisfaction with my law practice grew to the point where I left the legal profession in 2013. I stepped away from law entirely and started studying emotional intelligence, the neuroscience of productivity, and trauma.
In 2015, I began volunteering with a nonprofit in Austin, TX, that works with kiddos who are in the child welfare system due to abuse or neglect. It was through this volunteer work that I began my race literacy journey. The majority of people in Austin are White, but the vast majority of children in the child welfare system here in Austin are Black and Brown.
This is because Austin is racist. I learned that everyone - including White people - has racialized trauma, but the way we hold it in our bodies depends on skin color because our relationship to White supremacy depends on skin color. I now work with White people to address our racialized trauma so we can dismantle White supremacy.
In 2020, my heart pulled me towards working with lawyers in a different capacity. I've learned a lot about emotional intelligence, trauma, and regulating our nervous systems. There's a huge need to help lawyers find ways they can calm themselves down and feel settled.
Rather than practicing, I teach, consult and train on lawyer well-being. I found most lawyers wish that their experiences of practicing were different. I now teach productivity tools that are in alignment with how our brain operates. I want us to work in partnership with ourselves rather than against ourselves. And I incorporate race literacy into my work with White lawyers. It's crucial that we become more aware of how White supremacy is baked into our profession and that we take steps to dismantle it.