Team Member Spotlight: Linda
When we first hired Linda back in October 2020, we knew she was something special, full of strengths and potential. For her part, she was excited to work with the team. “I was brought on as a receptionist,” Linda says, “and
Get Your Train of Thought Back on Track Recovery Hacks Have you ever been in the middle of a conversation, presentation, or debate, stringing together thoughts in a way you hope is coherent and insightful when — poof! — you lose your train of thought? It’s frustrating. You just want to make yourself understood, but your brain has other plans. What if there were a way to keep your train of thought on track? Well, the good news is that recovering your train of thought is easy with the following hacks in mind. REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEATYOURSELF. Paraphrasing your last few thoughts out loud can help you remember where you were going. Think of it as retracing your steps: You go back to the last words you remember saying, and more often than not, you’ll find your direction again. TAKE A SHORT PAUSE. Pausing briefly is a great way to make recovering your train of thought seem natural. This hack works really well if you’re answering a question and you need time to think, and you also don’t want to be bogged down by a chorus of “ums” escaping from your mouth. WRITE IT ALL DOWN. This hack works well when you know beforehand that you’ll be speaking with someone or in front of people. Even if you never refer to your notes while speaking, simply writing down a road map for your train of thought can help you recover from a detour and speak more confidently. REMEMBER YOUR OVERALL POINT. The easiest way to drive your train of thought into the weeds is to forget your overall point — or not to have an overriding point at all. Always have a short, overarching point you can use to recenter yourself and get back on track. With these hacks, your brain will have to work a lot harder to make you lose your train of thought! Now you’ll be more prepared to tackle any subject matter, no matter how deep or technical, that comes your way.
to help with translations. I knew the firm did good work and cared a lot, but I had no idea I’d be doing such rewarding work.” Right now, that work has very little to do with reception: Linda is one of the team members we have working full- time on the Family Reunification Project with VECINA, a nonprofit dedicated to legal aid for immigrants. The project is simple, as Linda explains, but not easy. “Right now, there are many thousands of unaccompanied minors in immigration holdings in the United States —which means we have detention facilities full of locked-up children. Jails, really.” Although the government says these kids came to the USAwithout adults, the reality is that many were separated from their parents or guardians by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “No matter what,” Linda says, “the government tells us that if a child has family here in the United States that can take them in, then they can be released.” Finding those family members can be tricky, which is where Linda comes in. “Families contact me in some cases, looking for their kids,” she says. “Or we’ll have a child trying to find their family. A lot of the time, the adults are scared to come forward, though. They’re afraid they’ll be deported.” It can be draining work, and Linda knows she can’t succeed in every case. “But I have to try, she says. “I’m surrounded by passionate women at work, and that inspires me. Besides, as a mother, I cannot imagine my child in jail like that. Not for a second.” Family sustains her, she says. Right now, Linda lives with her mother and child, and they give her the support she needs to do the work. “So does cleaning my house,” she adds, laughing. “I enjoy the process of cleaning — while being around my cats too!” We are so grateful for Linda’s passion and hard work. It isn’t easy, but we knew when she first arrived that she had so much to offer. Thanks to her, many children have already gone home, and more will do the same.
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