CLEVELAND — As a little girl, Kayla Griffin knew she had the qualities that would prepare her for the role she has today.
"I've always wanted to protect others that was innate in me. And for as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be an attorney and do justice work," Griffin said.
Her time on the high school basketball court set her up for a future in the court of law.
"My father was my basketball coach and he trained me just as hard at home as he did on the court. We had a very strict home when it came to discipline," Griffin said.
After she graduated from Cleveland State, she got a job with the City of Cleveland and that's when she noticed there was something lacking when it came to how issues were addressed in our communities.
So she got involved with the NAACP.
"When you understand that you're connected to something bigger and greater than you and you understand the legacy and the resources that they have, that we can plug into, it really reshapes and reframes how you do the work," Griffin said. "There's definitely a weight and a responsibility that comes with the position."
On top of her to-do list are voting and civic engagement.
"I work as a voting rights specialist. I'm the state director for an organization called All Voting is local," Griffin said. "We're on the precipice of like a shift in our regime where we can really see democracy crumble or we could see our country stand up to the values and the ideas that it was founded on."
Cleveland has one of the lowest voting rates in the state and Griffin said voting is the front door to democracy, so getting people to vote is her main focus.
