1983 Society member Amanda Callais ('01) advocates for voiceless

1983 Society member Amanda Callais (‘01) is no stranger to advocating for others. As a teenager, the Denham Springs native turned a personal tragedy with side effects from an Accutane prescription into an opportunity to bring awareness to others taking the same medication.
“I went from happy, outgoing and involved to severely depressed and suicidal in a matter of weeks with no idea why,” said Callais. “I wanted to help others who might also be experiencing this by bringing this information to light before anyone else tried to take their life.”

The experience led her to speak on a national platform, including being interviewed by national publications on LSMSA’s campus and testifying before Congress. Today, Callais is a voting rights attorney and partner at Perkins Coie in Washington, DC. While she had long been interested in becoming a lawyer, being empowered to publicly advocate for others so early on changed the way she looked at law and politics, helping further shape her career. Most recently, the LSU and Tulane Law graduate served as the lead attorney defending the 2020 presidential election in Atlanta.

“I vividly remember watching the Bush v. Gore election process in high school, so it’s wild to know I was one of the many lawyers defending voting rights in this election,” said Callais. “Being a voting rights attorney allows me to directly advocate for the most basic tenets of our democracy at their most fundamental level, to empower individual voters to tell their own stories, and to encourage them to fight to have their own voice in the future of our country.” 

That dedication to advocacy is the reason Callais still prioritizes giving to LSMSA as a 1983 Society member. 

“It’s possible I would’ve ended up where I am today if I’d taken a different path, but it has been clear to me since college that my decision to attend LSMSA was fundamentally life-changing,” said Callais. “What if there’s another student out there who’s not being challenged or reaching her potential? What if she could speak up for the next generation in some way if she had the opportunities that come from an LSMSA education? That’s why I give back.”

Join Amanda Callais in giving back to LSMSA today.
 
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