NEXT s Morgan Springer interviews attorney Aigné Goldsby.
Aigné Goldsby’s mom was a hairdresser. So as a kid, Goldsby would flex a variety of hairstyles. But at her majority white school, kids would do things like pull on her weave, Goldsby recalled.
When Goldsby grew up and became a lawyer, she didn’t feel at ease bringing her full self to work.
“As a Black woman it’s been difficult for me, and it’s certainly been a process for me to feel comfortable in predominantly white spaces,” she told
The American Bar Association says only 5% of lawyers in the U.S. are Black, and Goldsby noted that there are even fewer Black women in the profession. She coaches BIPOC prelaw and law students through her company Black Esquire and is a staff attorney at the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.