Compassion and consistency to change the world

Written by Andrea Reyes & Alec Kissoondyal
Edited by Sheridan Block

Photo courtesy Andrea Reyes

Andrea Reyes was born in Bogota, Colombia and moved to the United States with her family when she was five years old. She is an immigration attorney based in Jacksonville, Florida, and the owner of Reyes Legal, PLLC, which she founded in 2014.

Andrea and her colleague Indy Moran founded the Northeast Florida Immigrant Resource Alliance (NEFIRA), a nonprofit that supports immigrants on their pathway to living informed, stable, and civically engaged lives. NEFIRA offers educational programs, stabilization resources, and civic engagement opportunities for immigrants to lead self-sufficient lives that allows them to invest time and resources back into their own communities.

Early Influences

My sister and I immigrated to the United States when I was five. My dad received a work visa, and we moved to the Northeast. I grew up in Connecticut and Maryland. In my family, we speak mainly Spanish and a lot of Spanglish; I’ve been around immigrants and other Spanish-speaking people my whole life. It was a different experience for us to move to Hagerstown, Maryland, where there weren’t many other Spanish-speakers. We were one of the first Hispanic families to move to that town. Eventually, I would move to Miami, where I went to high school; then I attended Florida State University for my undergraduate degree.

From Psychology to Law

I originally went to college to become a psychologist. Having done extensive therapy in high school myself, I was fascinated learning how the brain worked — what made us happy and sad, or how we managed traumatic experiences differently compared to others. I liked learning how emotions, thoughts and behaviors all worked together to lead people to behave in certain manners. As a result, I ended up double majoring in psychology and criminology.

For an elective, I took a class on international human rights. That’s where I met my first mentor, Terry Coonan. Terry started the Center for Advancement of Human Rights at FSU and I volunteered there. His story was fascinating. He studied theology and became a priest going on missionary trips to Africa and South America. When he realized he wanted to help more people, he went to law school to become an immigration and international human rights attorney.

He exemplified a love for humanity that transcended his lectures and all his worldly travels. His raw and compassionate teachings were so infectious, and they ignited a spark in me I didn’t know I had. After taking his International Human Rights class I decided I would become an immigration attorney, and I guess you could say this is where the trajectory of my present life began.

Andrea Reyes’ talk “No One Is Illegal” at TEDxFSCJ in Jacksonville

Compassion and Consistency

In 2014, I started my own law firm in Jacksonville in the spare bedroom of my apartment with my desk from college, a laptop, and a $100 printer from Walmart. I didn’t know about a business plan or a business loan or even where to begin to find that information. All I knew was that I was destined for this work and that I would make it happen. Now eight and half years later, I see it happening — with a real office and a powerful team.

When we hire at my office, the first thing we tell new hires is that this work is not for the faint of heart. What we do is hard, but we make a real, meaningful, tangible impact every day. We see it with every case we handle.

For me, it’s important to show up consistently, and to consistently do good. This work takes a level of humanity that not many professions have. I’m not saying it’s something I just happen to have; I am well-equipped because of my background, upbringing, and compassion. In my office, we don’t believe in perfection– it’s not a word we use. But we do believe in and expect consistency. To be consistently kind and human as much as possible.

Making a Change

People get overwhelmed when deciding where to start making a change. People are afraid to take that step in “changing the world” because it seems like such a huge undertaking. But you CAN change your world. The world you live in, your neighborhood, and your community. If you want to, you can be part of change. It doesn’t have to be global. I see the direct impact we make on a daily basis. By helping an individual, we help their family, and because of that, they can go on to contribute to their community. At the end of the day, it’s about your perspective. You don’t have to do it all. You can do one little thing but do it well and do it with love.

Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of WeaveTales and its employees.

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