Erika Flory

MJ, Employment and Labor Law, Tulane Law School Class of 2023

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Hello! My name is Erika Flory and I am from Lafayette, LA. I am currently a student at
Tulane and this is the second masters program that I am completing. Prior to, I completed a
masters program at Louisiana State University in Human Resource Workforce Development.
And in my undergrad, I completed a degree in Child and Family studies. My work experience
has been in Human Resources and more specifically in the field of recruiting.

My education trajectory first started with a desire to just help others. I discovered the
Child and Family studies program by my step sister who first started in this program and she
explained how much she enjoyed it. I was drawn, since majority of the courses focuses on the
family unit and I am a believer that an individual’s success and or life outcome Is deprived of
the family unit. This program was fun and yet challenging. It was rewarding to know that once
completing this program that I will be a professional in this field and can help in many ways
than one. Once I graduated, I started my career as a case manager and worked my way to
become a trainer of case management. I found this to be a rewarding career however, I really
enjoyed the training side more than anything. Also, I soon realized that my passion more so
aligns with training and development and that this degree is one of the lowest paying degrees
in the country. I did more research and soul searching and realized that I should try the field of
Human Resources since I remembered my time as a HR assistant at Lowes when I first
graduated High school and truly enjoyed that experience. After I thought about entering back
into the field of HR. I found a program at LSU called Human Resource Workforce Development
and Leadership and I was immediately drawn to it. This program was unique in a way that it
helped me to prepare for the deep understanding how leaders are developed, how an
employer can be successful and how development is imperative to the success of an
organization. I was able to complete this program on time and luckily shortly after I was able to
land a HR Generalist position right away at a Federal Qualified Health Clinic. I will be forever
grateful for the supervisor who took a chance on me and hired me (a candidate with no HR
experience) and this has opened my career in the HR Field.

As a new HR professional, I was quickly immersed in the challenges that the field of
Human Resources would bring. I always valued Education and realized that my gap in this field
is understanding the legalities of it. In addition, I soon realized that there were a lot of HR
professionals and I wanted to brand myself and set myself apart from the competition and earn
an additional masters degree. More specifically a degree in Employee Law and Labor. I soon
stumbled across Tulane, applied and was accepted. and What made my decision to move
forward with Tulane vs. any other universities and programs is the attractiveness of the
program and the creditability of the University. Once I did research and saw the success stories
of past alumni who completed this program, I was intrigued to start.

After my acceptance, I was still working as a Human Resource Generalist, soon
promoted to Human Resource Business Partner but I was drawn to recruiting. Unfortunately,

due to Covid, I was laid off from the FQHC. However, I was able to obtain a position as a Talent
Acquisition Partner at a Urgent care clinic and worked there for a year. While wanting to recruit
in a more meaningful way, I decided to apply for a Executive Recruiter position at a Charter
School and was offered the position. This organization has a mission that all children should
have the opportunity to go to and through college. This resonated with me because I also value
education and looking back as a child, I would have been the ideal student that would have
benefited from a school like this. College was not pushed for me and was often talked down
upon. If it was not for college, I would not be where I am today. I have been with my
organization for over a year and I have enjoyed the journey so far, by hiring individuals who
believe that college is for all.

This work © 2022 by Erika Flory is licensed under CC BY 4.0