Malaika Billups reminiscence - October 20, 2022

Start with the easy one because then I can test your audio is if you could tell me your name and the years that you were at Loyola Law School. My name is Malaika Clemens Billups and I was at

Loyola Law School from 2004 to 2007. Audio is really good. Cool. Um, let me just see if I can get a

little closer to you. No, I think that should be great. I don't think I need to do it again. So let me ask you this, then.

If you could consider sharing how you identify yourself around identity categories and. This is like a really weird, open ended question. So I just kind of leave it to you.

This is a prompt they shared. So, you know, I'll let you kind of carry it away. I identify as a cisgendered black woman.

I use she her pronouns. Terrific. Um. Isn't it kind of cool?

I dunno if you're seeing this in the city where you work, but like how people have started putting that into their e-mail signatures and it's really becoming kind of ubiquitous.

Yeah. So I do that. I have that. I have she her an idea in mine so that

I can be inclusive of, oh nice language, smart go. And then I also I haven't put this in but I think I'm going to I've seen somebody that that has like a link that says what is this so

that and then it links to something that explains pronouns. So or anybody who hasn't been emailing in the last year and doesn't know what pronouns are, they can learn. And this isn't a prompt there, but I figure this

is a good time to throw it in is to talk a little bit about what you do for a living now and how that may be intersects with equity and inclusion.

Presently, I'm an assistant city administrative officer with the City of Los Angeles. I oversee the Equity Performance Management and Innovation Group at the City Administrative Officers Office.

And what we are looking to do is build equity infrastructure in the city of Los Angeles, whether it's incorporating equity into our budget priorities or incorporating equity into our performance management oversight and review processes, we're looking to create

an equity framework for the city of Los Angeles, where we are considering and and weighting the experiences of those individuals and those communities who have been historically and who are currently disadvantaged.

So could you be a more appropriate person to be talking about this type of. Is this a city? Have any similar program where it's doing any narrative?

This just. Does this strike you as something that you've you've seen this kind of AI hit project before in your work? Well, the city has Channel 35 where they do a

lot of interviews, learning about what's happening in the city and keeping the public apprized of of different innovations, changes, updates and programs that are occurring throughout the city. So I've been a guest on Channel 35 and talked

a little bit about the work that I've done. Primarily, I spoke with Channel 35 in my capacity as the Chief Diversity Equity and Inclusion Officer in the personnel Department where where I helped to develop, create and oversee

the Office of Workplace Equity. That's awesome. Could you could you, you know, did I assume that a laundry is very helpful to all?

But maybe I don't know if that's the position you're in. Can you talk about how your experience at the law school kind of informs what you're doing?

Well, I think having a law degree is relevant to an incredible amount of career paths and career choices. My law degree afforded me the opportunity to be a practicing employment litigator where I would say I honed my

skills at looking at workplace experiences from the perspective of discrimination, harassment and other types of wrongful treatment that are related to people's protected categories and how they identify themselves. As we talked about a little bit earlier in this

in this discussion. In my experience as an employment litigator, I learned about some of the worst ways that people could engage their workforce.

And it was interesting to me to think about the opposite of litigation litigation I think of as the worst case scenario. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, the opposite

end of the spectrum is the best case scenario when how does one create and build an inclusive environment that focuses on equity, that supports a diverse workplace or a diverse community?

What are the strategies for building that so that you can avoid all that litigation that kept me sustained? As a lawyer. You're getting out in front of it now.

This is this is a random question, but I did you recently did your office hosted an event at a place called Bar Flores a few weeks back because it clicked with me after the fact that I ran into

someone who said, Hey, are you here with the event tonight? And I said, No, I'm not. She said, Where were you from?

Loyola Law School. She said, Oh, we're here with equity. Come over and sign up. And then I actually had to leave.

I had a car. I was just picking something up. But and her name was Liz. And then I actually remember looking at her.

I got thinking, what is equity? And I thought maybe she was shortening the name of your office. So if she was she from the city of Los.

Angeles, we never got that far. You know, I wish I had I been paying closer attention. I might have said, Do you know Miss Bilbao?

But I didn't get that far. Yeah, I don't think. It was our group. But, you know, the city of Los Angeles, we have

one of the interesting things about doing equity work in the city of Los Angeles is that we don't have it just in in one place. There's no central place that focuses on equity.

We have lots of different initiatives from different groups. There's people in the mayor's office that are focused on different aspects of equity. We have the Civil Human Rights and Equity Department that

participates in a lot of community building and learning and supportive supporting different communities in terms of equity. The CEO's office where I am, we're looking at equity in budget priorities and equity and performance management.

The personnel department that's looking at we have the Office of Workplace Equity where they look in the experiences of the employees and the workplace, and there's a lot of different groups that are really doing a lot of heavy

equity work. Even in the city attorney's office, there's an equity group, their city attorney's offices, my former employer also in the city.

And and we're all working collaboratively to institutionalize these concepts into the way that the city does business. Um, yeah, it sounds like it needs to be a through line, doesn't it?

It's not like we're just kind of a part one department of it. Absolutely. And then put it in a vacuum so people can

forget about it. Absolutely. I don't believe that a a single space where equity exists is the way to make the changes and the

social innovations that we as a society need. It's something that needs to be infused in every aspect of the work that we do. Well, I'm going to jump into the questions below.

So at least I get the required pieces out of the way. And then some of these are prompts like, I don't know that you're necessarily a first generation student, but that

was one of the things they were asking for. So I'll start with the finishing the sentence. Being at Loyola Law School for me was. Being at LMU, Loyola Law School was a really interesting

and eye opening experience. I was a first generation law student and I didn't have anyone in my family who had practiced law. But I was told that if I came to Loyola

I would find a supportive environment that helped within my personal and professional growth as a lawyer and that I could become an excellent lawyer who knew what I was talking about, who could think like a lawyer and who

could engage in the field of legal practice without feeling disadvantaged because I didn't grow up in a community of lawyers. Or a family of lawyers.

Um. Well put. You. I'm going to ask you that just as a first

generation prompt, because you already hit it anyway. But. And you know, now there's like a whole first to go program here.

What is that? So I've spoken at it. It's basically they do a panel for when you're admitted as an embedded student, it's like one piece of the

orientation process, just hearing from people who yeah, in a series of programing in the in the in the I guess it's in the fall well summer leading up to the fall semester for new students.

Yeah. Okay That's awesome because there's so many first generation law students. You know, I wasn't a first generation college student.

Both of my parents were professionals. My mother was a physician and my my father was an engineer. But law was something that was outside of what what

I grew up knowing. So I didn't have those legal discussions at at the dinner table about constitutional analysis or things like that. That wasn't something that was, you know, a common conversation

within our our household. And I don't know if it is within like generations of families that have lawyers in their families. But as a first generation student, I was concerned that

other students would have advantages that led them to become more successful in their law school experience than I was. But I found Loyola to be a supportive enough environment that ultimately I don't even know if I could tell

a difference, you know, especially by the end of my three year. That's great. That's a testament.

And another prompt. How would you how would you complete this sentence as a student with a particular insert identity I experienced? As a black woman.

As a black female student at Loyola Law School, I think I had overall positive experiences. It was. An experience in diversity I would say that I hadn't

had before. I had gone to historically black college, which I loved for undergrad, which I think was a wonderful experience. But it's a very it's a very specific experience.

The experience I had at Loyola Law School was that of exposure to communities that I had never previously had exposure to, and I really enjoyed that aspect of, of my law school experience.

I made lots of different friends and I learned so much about myself and things that I didn't know that I would ever be interested in. Afterward, I became after taking constitutional law, I became really,

really interested in American history and constitutional history in a way that I never had before. And I became an avid listener of like, podcasts on American history.

And I'm like, What is this deeply held nerdish ness that I didn't know that I had? I'm so excited about it, but I'm glad that my experience is at Loyola Law School brought that brought that

out of me. Excellent. Um. Where did you go for undergrad?

I went to Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. So we had. We had a panel yesterday of two, um, two judges and one went to Spelman, one went to Howard.

And that actually became part of the conversation, the the switch, because one of the students raised it. I think there was a student who went to Spelman who was in the audience and just talked about being

the interesting way you go from what the what the class how that classroom dynamic changes where I yeah, I thought it was fascinating. It is.

I mean, I think that I loved going to a historically black college. I loved Spelman College. My mom was an alum, my aunts and alum.

So I had a lot of I was not a first generation Spelman student. And and there was a lot of love and support that you get at a black college that you don't

expect to get at another school. But one of the things I liked about Loyola is that as a it has a it's a small campus, even though it's a large, you know, student body, there

was a lot of opportunity to build strong relationships with our peers. I mean, part of it is the function of how law school classes are created and you have your one

cohort and you're with your same people all the time. But I really enjoyed that opportunity to. Go through the trenches with with my cohort here at Loyola.

And I found it to be a very positive experience, a very a very safe experience for me. But it was different. It was very different.

Yeah, I think you're right, though. Like, the hell law school is like going to war or something. You know, you're really with these guys, like you're going

to bond. Absolutely. So you were a day student, I assume, right? I was a day student.

Okay. How about you? This prompt? My story is part of Loyola Law School's history.

And today I want to share. Fill in the blank. I know that's really opening the universe of comments up. My story is a part of Loyola Law School's history,

and today I want to share that. I am. We're going to have to do a couple of takes on this because I don't know.

I don't know where I want to how I want to go. I didn't I didn't look that closely at that question. I was like, oh, I can answer these questions.

What types of things do people share? So we I'll say, this is from my background as a journalist. We have not done a ton of these ourselves yet.

We really just started this campaign with with the outlaw of in in October. But I will say this like, you know, I don't know if there was a pivotal moment in your law

school, your time. Were you involved on many student activities? Like, I'm trying to think of anecdotes that might have been like a turning point for you or.

Okay, I was on the burn trial ad team. Oh, nice. Yeah. And I had a lot of really, I think, good

experiences. They are that that I've carried with me. Okay. So maybe I can like.

That might be something that's. You were. You were in Susan Paul's orbit, huh? Yes, I was.

Okay, So. So when I say I want to share, I want to share a story. Is that what I'm doing?

Yeah. I think we could say I want to share a story or something that I feel like is a piece of this larger puzzle.

Okay, so my story is part of the LMU, Loyola Law School's history, and I want to share a story about an experience that I had that helped me. Learn the value of the uniqueness of my own voice.

And I think that that's something that I learned as a member of the burn trial advocacy team, and I learned it directly from Susan Pols. I remember I was a I was more of a

quiet style trial advocate, and I really liked the performance of the the trial advocacy team. But I saw a lot of my peers who are very outspoken and loud and aggressive and assertive.

And I remember at one point I started trying to emulate that style, and I remember Susan Powell saying to me, Malaika, if that's not you don't do that. You are not going to be the most unlikable, aggressive

person in the room. That's just not who you are. Your gift is your sincerity. Your gift is your honesty.

Your gift is your ability to connect. And I said, I knew that, but I thought that I had to do something else in order to be successful here.

And she said, No, just be you and you will be wildly successful if you just do that. And I've carried that with me. That's what a great answer.

I mean, that was I wasn't sure what to expect out of that one. Can I ask you. This is my own fault.

I think I was leaning over to check that the audio that we were still recording properly and we are. And I caught some of my own. They're so sensitive.

I caught the movement. You was right when you were saying Malay. You were actually we reiterating what Susan told you. Okay.

So I don't I don't want to necessarily want you to do the whole answer again, but you could if you want. But just start from that point.

I'll try to. Okay. What she said to me was, Malaika, you are not going to be the most aggressive advocate in the room.

You're not going to be the most fierce, disliked, disagreeable and tough. The tough guy in the room. What you have is the gift of sincerity.

You have the gift to connect with your audience. You have the gift of being believable and seeming honest. And if you just connect with that gift and operate within the skill set that you have, you will be

wildly successful because that is where your strength lies. And I've carried that with me till this day. I'm going to be remembering you next year when we're looking for a burn team alumni to profile for our

US or our campaign, our influencer campaign. Hey, we're at the last prompted question, which is and I hope I didn't just take your answer from the prior one.

My most memorable experience at Loyola Law School was. Oh. I've got a few different memories. I really want to say that probably my most memorable

experience at Loyola Law School were the hours and hours and hours I spent with the burn trial advocacy team. Preparing for. Our competitions and preparing for our opportunities to show off

our skill set. And ultimately, we had a trial advocacy showcase that I was featured in, and it was so much fun to show off the skills that we had developed over hours

and hours and and to add a little bit of humor, to add a little bit of drama and to really create an entertaining experience for my family, friends and colleagues here at Loyola.

I really I think I would say that that showcase of trial advocacy was probably my most memorable experience and one of the most enjoyable. Still popular to this day.

You're talking about the exhibition right in the spring when they're trying to get people to to try out. Yeah, that's I mean, it hasn't happened yet, but it's I'm sure it's coming up soon.

Yeah. We did a case that was sort of modeled after the maid to say it. Now, like the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case.

It was yeah similar in factual style, but it was it was just it was a lot of fun. And I remember infusing some humor in it because by that time I had sort of like found my stride

and I was like, Oh, I got this. And there was a lot of performance involved and a lot of fun. Yeah, it was good.

We're done with the questions I needed to ask. Is there anything that you wanted to say, something about your experience here that you just feel like is worth sharing a pivotal class, A professor other than maybe Susan

who's awesome, something you've carried with you and your your career since your time here. I wish I could remember my cousin in law professor's name.

Man or woman. Because it's. Man. Ellen Eyes.

It wasn't Larry Williams. It wasn't Gary Williams. Oh, Chris may be older or younger. He was kind of older.

They have classes. He always talked. He was from New Mexico because he talked about the chilies all the time.

Really? Oh, now you're stumping. I must have known who. Didn't want to think about it.

You had to have known He was. He was here for. Not the. La Raza.

Um, unless there was someone who was kind of like, um, retiring mood, like a grin. Okay. Okay.

It's not going to. Yeah. The New Mexico thing is very specific. It's very specific.

That first, all of his analogies were related to Chile. So interstate commerce. Karl Mannheim No. I don't think so.

I can't. Remember. Who was it? Who was.

He was a. Con law. Professor. Either way, I think that there were so many classes

that opened my eyes to things that I'd never thought about. I enjoyed. And I mean enjoyed my con law class.

I really enjoyed trusts and wills. Stan Goldman has always been a legend, and I think my criminal criminal law class was incredibly memorable. I sat in the second row and I never regretted

sitting that close because it was it was fascinating and fun. And he was a masterful storyteller. I never really fully understood contracts.

It just never came to me and property was so confusing. But, you know, I made it through and I learned a ton.

I had a great experience. I built lifelong relationships, and being back on campus today fills me with only warm and fond memories. And so I'm grateful to be here and I'm grateful

to have been a part of the Loyola Law School story.