Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Joseph Cordova. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Joseph, thanks for joining us today. Let’s go back in time to when you were an intern or apprentice – what’s an interesting story you can share from that stage of your career?

Often I am asked to join Roundtable discussions at colleges and universities to engage with college and law students about aiming their path towards their goals. I often respond by encouraging students to cast as wide of a net as possible and say ‘yes’ to whatever opportunities present. The reason isn’t just in the name of being open minded, but rather to making yourself known and seen. The reality of our careers is that we all have to get into the pool somewhere at some time if we plan on reaching the depths of our goals. Yet, we hesitate to dive in, thinking there’s a specific place to do so, and getting it wrong could be detrimental. The truth is that, what matters most is getting in and getting wet. That’s when you begin to build your network of people who will look out for you. In my experience, my first internship was great, but was not going to be where I’d end up. Instead, my supervising attorney connected me to another attorney, who connected me to another attorney, which led to my first job opportunity, which then led to my current position. The chain of people looking out for me had to begin somewhere. Had I hesitated and waited for the exact position I was looking for, then I’d still just be standing there, waiting to jump in.

Joseph, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am an attorney at Florida Legal Services, where I manage a Fair Housing project. We cover 15 counties in north-central Florida, providing outreach, education, enforcement, and legal representation to people facing housing discrimination. The Fair Housing Act covers race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disabilities, and families with children, so our efforts reach many communities and people, connecting with thousands of residents every year. Because we are nonprofit legal services organization, we are grant funded and never charge clients for our services. We have a strong commitment to community based work, and benefit from our many partners in the field who provide additional advocacy and referrals.

In the past 4 years, our trends are similar to those nationwide in that the majority of our clients are facing denials of housing accommodations, modifications, emotional support and service animals. While other forms of discrimination are prevalent in our project region, disability based discrimination continues to be number one, with national origin based discrimination coming in second. Due to our unique position in the community, not only do we connect with clients, but we make a point to provide presentations and educational workshops to housing providers and property managers to help prevent violations of law as well.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

In my experience, there is no greater reputation builder than walking your talk. I will intentionally take the suit off and put the shorts on and participate in food drives, community resource fairs, and other volunteer events, not only to help and play my part in my community, but to be seen and to be accessible to those I’m hoping to serve. Often, when providing legal services to vulnerable communities, building trust and rapport is an absolute must before ever being welcomed into the private issues they face. The best way to do this is to find opportunities to engage directly with the community in an authentic way.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media is an ever growing and ever changing platform. Just when I think we have momentum and have established a good rhythm and reach, another platform pops up that requires a different form of engagement. What I find is that, no matter the platform, pictures and short and sweet posts are the name of the game. Every audience likes to scroll. If you are putting too much in one post, that’s a pass. If your video is too long, that’s a pass. But a picture or two with one or two sentences identifying your event or activity usually garners the most ‘likes’, ‘shares’, and ‘comments’. And that is how you get the algorithm to work in your favor. The goal is put yourself on to people’s feed as much as possible. So, a high quantity of brief notes and pics is what we’ve used to build our audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.floridalegal.org/fairhousing
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/floridalegalservices/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/floridalegalservicesinc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/florida-legal-services/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@floridalegalservices8366