This September marks my second year working at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the nation’s premier law organization fighting for racial justice founded by Thurgood Marshall.

After a year of clerking for the Court of Appeals of Virginia, I started at the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) as a State Voting Rights Act Policy Fellow. As a fellow, I supported State Voting Rights Act (SVRA or State VRA) campaigns in Maryland, New Jersey, and Michigan. Then as my understanding of voting rights policy grew, I took on building up a Georgia campaign, working on amendments to the Virginia Voting Rights Act, and exploring other state campaigns. I started 2026 with a promotion to Policy Counsel right when the national State Voting Rights Act movement ballooned. Next thing I knew I was part of introducing State VRAs in Louisiana and Georgia, drafting the Delaware John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and expanding my portfolio to other political participation issues outside of SVRAs.

While I have always approached my studies with the goal of becoming an advocate for some issue or worthy cause, I did not always know what that work would actually look like. But, to remain open to whatever career opportunities might come my way, I focused on acquiring transferable skills and experiences while in law school to become an interdisciplinary, community centered advocate. And after two years in the policy space, I recommend these core principles for people trying to start their career in policy.

Embrace your inner geek.

When I came to LDF, I did not have an expertise in State VRAs. If anything, my policy expertise was around reproductive justice issues. Roe v. Wade fell while I was in law school, and that unraveling of women’s rights really impacted me as I saw states creating unassailable rights to reproductive rights in their constitutions. It was this attention to state law that encouraged me to clerk for a state appellate court while my classmates were pursuing federal clerkships. So, I applied to my fellowship because I appreciated states’ power to protect their citizens even when the federal government and courts abandon civil rights. While at LDF, I have had to get up to speed on State VRAs, the gutting of the federal Voting Rights Act over the last 15 years, and particular states’ legislative rules. That learning process meant that I was a student in a lot of spaces, taking notes, briefing cases, and asking questions like I was back in school. Sometimes it feels like there is a lot I do not know. But once I realized that was natural (I mean how could I know the same level of information as a colleague who has litigated cases I read about in SVRA school), I embraced my inner geek. Being a forever learner is an inevitable part of advocating for policy.

Stay tuned into the news but keep the news at a healthy distance.

I have never been one to sit down and watch CNN or MSNBC on a television–maybe that is because I did not grow up in a household with cable television or maybe that is because my generation consumes media differently. I prefer to listen to podcasts with short recaps on the news’ headlines. But, that is not really sufficient these days given that voting rights jurisprudence has changed so much just in 2026 alone with Louisiana v. Callais. While I still have an aversion to watching the news, I now subscribe to newsletters, follow more news reporters on social media, and turn on media alerts to increase the amount of news I receive. It helps my work to be aware of news so that I can anticipate how local news and politics will impact my bills, stay abreast of issues that my partners are dealing with, and empathize with the communities my bills impact. And it helps my mental health to filter when and how I receive news so that I can keep fighting for voting rights in the face of the absolutely heartbreaking racist past and present of America.

Writing skills can always be improved.

I write a lot for my job–memos, bills, public education materials, testimony, talking points, and more. In law school, I mastered legal writing but had less experience writing for lay audiences. Now, my job entails writing for legal, legislative, and lay audiences. While you can take certain classes in law school to expose you to the types of deliverables for policy work–Administrative Law or Legislative Drafting, there isn’t really such a thing as “policy writing.” Instead, I have read and studied materials and bills produced in successful State VRA campaigns to inform my writing style. Even as my confidence with writing grows, I appreciate having a second pair of eyes on my work before submission. And, I try to open myself up to critique and feedback so that I am always improving. The worst thing you can do at the start of your career in policy is think you are the best writer in the room. While we might have been writing all of our lives, it is a skill that demands perfecting and the only way you can perfect writing is to write some more.

Expect the unexpected because policy making is always political and humans make policy decisions.

State VRA campaigns are typically 3-4 year campaigns because the bills are long and it takes a long time to educate legislators and community members, but also because policy making is political. Voting rights should not be a controversial topic, but more times than not, people in power are not on the same page with advocates. There are a range of theories around who gets to vote, how people get to vote, and what constitutes voting. Whenever there is a power structure involved like racial hierarchy or a winner v. loser election, policy making becomes less straightforward–the easy part is writing the policy, the harder part is selling it. To face this type of uncertainty, it helps to remember that policy is made by humans. Humans are emotional creatures who have wants and desires. It is my job to know what those wants and desires are and connect them to the idea of voting. It is also my job to make sure that campaign coalitions have the right kind of people power to counter political desires and to keep voting rights out of political negotiations. I succeed or fail at my job based on the types of relationships I hold. And it is very possible for relationships to become transactional in this type of work. But, I take time to get to know my coalition members, lend my advocacy to issues they care about, celebrate their milestones outside of our coalition, and simply remember that they are human at the end of the day. Embracing soft skills allows me to expect the unexpected and make progress in passing a bill.

While those core principles drive my work today, my mother would tell you that she always knew I would be an advocate. We couldn’t drive past trash on the side of the road without elementary school age me asking, “Why do people leave trash beside the road? That isn’t nice. Can we stop and clean it up?” I was a student government kid who became disillusioned with running in middle school after I caught on that it was all a big popularity competition and that no one cared about my platform to raise money for new supplies at school or create a volunteer program in the library. In high school, I finally looked privilege in its ugly eyes as I realized that kids were sent to boarding school for reasons outside of a better education and as I saw that faculty and staff that you live with 24/7 and grow to trust can have biases against students of color, students like me. These formative moments matter just as much as the core principles above because who you are matters in how you show up for vulnerable communities.  No matter what area of policy you go into, there will be hard questions, compromises, and days of failure before the bill becomes law, the wrongfully incarcerated person is freed, or a family gets their utilities turned back on. But, if a fire for justice fuels you, starting a career in policy will be easier than you think.

Imani Brooks serves as a Policy Counsel at LDF. In this role, Imani primarily focuses on the organization’s political participation efforts and is engaged in numerous State Voting Rights Act coalitions across the country. She has successfully advocated for the enacted of State Voting Rights Acts in Maryland, New Jersey, and Delaware and has led successful introduction efforts in Louisiana and Georgia. Imani brings legal and policy experience to her role following her clerkship at the Court of Appeals of Virginia and internship at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. She is a graduate of American University Washington College of Law, where she was a staff member for the Journal on Gender, Social Policy and the Law,  led the If When How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice chapter, and provided pro bono legal services on the Navajo Reservation. Imani received her B.A. in International Studies from Emory University.

While at Emory, Imani became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (DST) through the Omicron Xi chapter as the youngest member in the chapter’s history. For DST, she served on the National Programming, Planning and Development Committee for five years for and is now a Member-at-Large in the South Atlantic Region.