We were lucky to catch up with Vickie and Amanda recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Vickie and Amanda, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
Our work ethic has been different than a traditional attorney’s because we are not trying to fit into a world, we are creating a world that works for us. We have learned that quality is more important than quantity. Working long hours leads to burn out and not to quality representation. We have invested in our continuing education of the law in order to continue to serve our clients in the best possible way. Our biggest hurdle is people not being aware of the issues we are fighting against. Most families do not even know the problem and they come to us later than they should. The most recent struggles came about because of the pandemic, people continuing to see “disabilities” in a negative way, and the educational system continuing to try to use outdated research and systems to educate all students. To try and create the world we want to see, our work includes our podcast which informs the community of the issues people with disabilities face at such a young age.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Amanda and Vickie met in law school while studying abroad in Spain. After bonding over lunch, adventure, and desire for helping people, they began planning to have a law firm together one day in the distant future. The plan to build a law firm together happened more quickly after law school than they thought. The legal system is not set up for families to effectively advocate for their children with unique learning needs in a quick and efficient way. There needed to be a better way to support students living with disabilities. The access to quality to instruction, access to free legal aide was missing and they wanted to do more than one case at a time. From there the Inclusive Education Project (“IEP”) was born so they could educate families on special education rights and connect qualifying California families with pro bono legal aid for Special Education.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three qualities that were most impactful in our journey was our passion, creativity, and perseverance. For those early in their journey, you want to find something you are passionate about, it does not mean you love it every minute, but it means that you care about what you are doing, even if it gets hard to do in certain moments. Being able to think creatively helps you think outside the box and not get stuck when everyone else tells you, “That’s the way things have always been done.” There are several ways to do things, and if one thing does not work, perseverance helps you try something new until you find the thing that works best for you. If it was easy everyone would do it, right?
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
Typically, Amanda and Vickie have each other to talk to and bounce ideas off each other. They have weekly meetings to check in with each other, in order to try and avoid becoming completely overwhelmed. Consistent movement or getting outside throughout the day also helps when you get overwhelmed.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.inclusiveeducationproject.org/
- Instagram: @InclusiveEducationProject
- Facebook: Inclusive Education Project Podcast
- Linkedin: Inclusive Education Project
- Other: Threads: @InclusiveEducationProject
TikTok: @InclusiveEdProject
