“By trade, Lisa is a practicing attorney. Since 2009, she’s also served as the volunteer executive director of Common Ground Community, Inc., a local nonprofit that focuses on improving the lives of children and adults living in the Cedar Grove neighborhood of Shreveport.

Common Ground builds community through compassionate outreach, genuine care, and acceptance of all people. They serve a community meal each week, run a clothes closet, and provide a food pantry for the community at large. The organization helps kids with school readiness by providing tutoring, a free summer day camp, and youth programs that build community while teaching kids how to be of service.

The organization is almost entirely volunteer-driven, and Lisa’s persistence and dedication inspire others to join. She’s purchased textbooks out of her own pocket, provided transportation for students, helped their families fill out financial aid forms for school, and has personally seen to it that kids and families have the support they need to be successful.

Lisa is tireless. She spends the first half of the day at the law firm, and the second half at Common Ground. She’s also an adjunct professor and a mother. And despite all of that, she finds the energy to lead by example. Lisa never asks anyone to do anything that she’s not willing to do. She balances the books and makes public presentations, but she also takes out the trash, mops the floors, and plays with children. She radiates humility and graciousness. There are many young people finishing college, entering the workforce, and achieving their dreams who can trace a part of their success back to the support of Lisa and Common Ground.”