Erika Smolyar

What did you enjoy most about growing up in Chicago?

I’d love to say the snow, but that’s definitely not true. I’ve always loved the summers, the city itself, the thunderstorms, and mostly my family and the friends I grew up with. 

You are the president of Boyd's Workplace Law Club. Tell our readers about what the club has accomplished this year. 

Considering that WLC is about one year old, we’ve accomplished a lot! We started this year with a “Careers in Workplace Law” panel that we co-hosted with CDO; we helped our amazing faculty advisors—Professor McGinley and Professor Garcia—with the 14th Annual Colloquium on Scholarship in Employment and Labor Law, an event that they spectacularly organized; and we co-hosted a discussion with OWLS, that Nevada State Senator Pat Spearman spearheaded, about pay equity and equality. On February 8 and 9, WLC is hosting a conference called “Alto Polimigra 2020,” bringing together students, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the Las Vegas Arriba Worker Center, and other national immigrant rights and labor organizations to discuss legal and electoral strategies and direct-action campaigns regarding immigrant rights. We’re also currently working with the Cannabis Law Society to execute a “Marijuana in the Workplace” panel. Finally, I wanted to take this opportunity to show my utmost appreciation and gratitude for the hardest-working, most supportive, and most passionate executive board I could ever hope for: Taylor, Joey, John, Dylan, Dani, and Ed—I can’t thank you enough.

And you are working for an employment law firm. How's that going? 

I absolutely love it. I came to law school with the goal of helping those most vulnerable in the workplace—employees who are in positions in which I’ve found myself in the past. It’s pretty much my dream job.

Art festival or music festival?

I’m a singer, and music is one of my biggest passions. I also love music festivals... so I have to go with that choice!