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Kelsie grew up in San Diego, California. Her childhood was spent in a small-town running through horse trails, helping her best friend take care of her 4H animals, and participating in a local children’s theater. Kelsie spent her youth playing competitive basketball and volleyball, which afforded her the opportunity to travel throughout California. She attended college in Seattle, Washington, earning a bachelor’s in English literature with a minor in philosophy, cum laude. While in college, Kelsie mentored junior high students in after school programs and summer camps. She lived in an orphanage for a summer in Ukraine with a group of women from her university, running a summer camp with Ukrainian peers who shared their childhood stories of how their lives changed when their country gained independence, only roughly ten years prior.
Originally a nursing major, Kelsie always knew her vocation would involve bringing healing to others. She switched to a literature major after reading her professor’s note on an essay, which asked, “Are you sure you’re a nursing major? Because they don’t usually write this well.” Kelsie focused her studies on post-colonial and anglophone literature, culminating in a study abroad experience in South Africa. She visited sites throughout the country that were key to the dismantling of apartheid. She also built houses in a South African township through Habitat for Humanity’s International Student Build, working side-by-side with South African men and women from the township, and college students from around the globe. She studied South African literature and theater and the country’s healing process through its Truth and Reconciliation Commission. These experiences had a deep, lasting impact on Kelsie, convincing her of the power of language and story to bring about healing through telling the truth.
After college, Kelsie obtained her master’s in English education and taught public middle school and high school for 8 years, mainly in Oklahoma and Texas. As a teacher, Kelsie focused on empowering her students to develop their voice and effectively communicate their truth. Kelsie always encouraged her students to advocate for what they believed in, rather than following the crowd or giving in to external pressures from bullies – whether their peers or society.
After having her son, Kelsie moved back to her hometown of San Diego, where she currently lives. Kelsie enrolled at the University of San Diego School of Law, spending her 1L year in the part-time program taking classes at night while working at a personal injury law firm during the day. While in law school, Kelsie also interned at the U.S. Attorney’s Office-Civil Division and externed for the Hon. Allison Goddard, United States magistrate judge for the Southern District of California.
Driven by a deep conviction to pursue truth and justice using the power of words and language, Kelsie has dedicated her professional life to empowering others to advocate for what they believe in – regardless of the odds stacked against them or the people in power who want to keep them silent. Kelsie believes fighting for truth and justice brings healing to individuals, and society. Kelsie has carried this vision and tenacity into her career as a lawyer, empowering her clients to tell their truth, refusing to bend to the pressure from unlawful offenders who devalue or deny her clients’ experiences, placing profits and pride over people.
Kelsie is honored to advocate on behalf of her clients through litigation and trial, making her clients’ stories heard, and holding wrongdoers accountable to bring healing justice.
JD, University of San Diego, 2022
– Certificate in Civil Litigation Concentration
MEd, University of Oklahoma, 2011
– English Education
BA, Seattle Pacific University, 2008
– English Literature
– Philosophy minor
