NYC Determination, NOLA Flair

The Knicks amazing comebacks to take the title has me thinking back to 2002 — those long months when I was studying for the New York bar exam, living mostly on determination and whatever cheap takeout I could find. I wasn’t in New York yet, but I was aiming for it. Every late‑night study session felt like I was training for a city I hadn’t earned the right to call mine. Not yet.

Though I visited as a kid, my real introduction to New York came in 2001, helping a friend transition back to Harlem after graduating from Penn Law. That trip was my first taste of the city’s particular brand of grit — the kind that’s equal parts comedy, chaos, and courage.

I still remember stepping out of that 24‑hour Chinese restaurant — the kind that before I had only experienced through movies — and seeing a Harlemite doing pull‑ups on the “Walk/Don’t Walk” sign like it was his personal gym. A few minutes later, another gentleman strolled by walking a pit bull with no leash, just a rope the dog held proudly in its mouth like, “I got this.”

To this NOLA boy, it was funny, a little terrifying, and absolutely unforgettable. But more than anything, it was New York distilled: people who do what they have to do, with style, with humor, and without apology.

And then there was the wedding reception in Queens — one of the most beautiful, multicultural nights I’ve ever experienced. The groom from Casablanca, the bride from Palestine, guests of honor representing China, Puerto Rico, Northern and Sub‑Saharan Africa, and of course African Americans like me. It was the kind of gathering that could only happen in New York: a room full of people whose histories spanned continents, but who were all dancing to the same beat that night.

Those early experiences shaped me long before I ever stepped into a courtroom. They taught me that New York isn’t just a place, it’s a rhythm, a resilience, a refusal to quit. The same energy the Knicks tapped into these Finals when they clawed their way back from two double‑digit deficits. The same energy I felt in myself when I finally passed the bar and earned the privilege of representing this city’s people.

New Orleans raised me. It gave me warmth, community, and roots. But New York? New York sharpened me. It taught me how to fight for people who carry entire worlds on their backs. It taught me that every court comeback (anyone, pick one, courtroom or basketball, to paraphrase the Notorious B.I.G.) starts with the belief that the story isn’t over.

And that’s why I’m proud to serve this city as an attorney. Because every client, every case, every late‑night brief reminds me of that 2002 kid who believed he could make it here — and the city that proved him right.