We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alissa Sammarco. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alissa below.

Alright, Alissa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

My grandfather always told me to show up every day, work hard and make yourself indispensable. He said that in the depression, there was no work. But he showed up every day at the work site – I think they were building a bridge or a road – and asked if there was work for him. Every day he was told there was no work. Every day he would return. And one day, the foreman gave him a shovel and put him on the job. There is no secret to success. It is persistence, honesty, character and hard work. Every day.

My first job as a lawyer was completely new to me. I spent my time learning everything I could. If I was given a project, I researched every aspect of the facts and law. My boss handed me a case file and a booklet – the California Schedule for Rating Disabilities. I returned to him with my own rating of the individual’s disability. He was a man of few words and he looked up at me and said “how did you learn to do this?”

I volunteered for complex and complicated cases in areas that other attorneys in the firm did not want to touch. This led me to focus my practice in employment law, as well as other areas.

As for my poetry, I restarted my creative efforts some 10 years ago. From the beginning, I wanted to publish. However, it did not happen until I put my mind to it. I have taken classes and workshops to learn new ways to express myself. The community has helped me greatly both in honing my craft, and in learning about publishing. At the beginning, I set aside time every weekend to research journals and publishers, then select fitting poems to submit. Finally, my first poem was accepted by a publisher, and then another and another. I submitted manuscripts and now, my first poetry book has been published with several scheduled to be released over the next couple of years.

It’s about showing up and working hard – every day.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Born in New Orleans to parents who were both artists and professionals, I have carried on in that line. My father, a surgeon, was also an opera singer as a child. My mother was a teacher, dancer in NYC, and artist. I am a lawyer and writer. The plan was always to become a lawyer. But in my heart, from a very young age, I was always a writer.

As for my legal career, I will not list all my alcoholates and hardships. I will only say that it is an honor to be able to help people through their difficult times. I represent people injured on the job, or in terrible accidents. I represent people who have lost their jobs as the result of discrimination, prejudice and hatred. There is nothing that can compare to the feeling of opening a card from a client with a picture showing how she has succeeded in her life since I helped her with her problems. She showed thanked me for standing up next to her when she could not stand up alone.

As for my writing career, I have had a few alcoholates. In college, I was awarded prizes for writing, and the Pearle Stearling Evans Award for most promising woman writer. That was many years ago. More recently, a few of my poems have made honorable mention. What is most rewarding about poetry is when a poem really touches a reader. I try to capture the feeling of a moment with imagery and voice. I write about relationships and love and family.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Pivots come out of necessity or direct choice. For me, a little of both. I had left a job without a next step planned out. All I had was my employment law cases. In starting my job search, I interviewed with a firm whose practice was the same as the firm I had left – high volume personal injury. I knew the lawyers and they were good people with whom I would have loved to work. However, as I hung up the phone after 45 minutes of discussing how to fit my practice with theirs, a feeling arose in my gut. This was not my path. I just couldn’t walk back into the same type of practice I had just left.

It was at that moment I decided to open my own practice and make a go of it. I had about $60,000 in anticipated fees for the year based on my pending cases. I had three kids to support. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Lesson: Patience is not for the weak of heart – but it is well worth it!

Regarding my writing, I was so set on publishing my poetry that I researched all options from self-publishing through BookBaby or Amazon, to hybrid publishers who share costs to traditional small press publishers. It is a slow business.
Review of manuscripts is slow. Acceptance is infrequent. I finally received an offer from a hybrid publisher. However, after talking with some of my friends who have published, did not accept the offer. Shortly thereafter, I received an acceptance from a well-respected small press. I was over the moon.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.AlissaSammarco.com; www.SammarcoLegal.com
• Instagram: @alissasammarcowrites
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlissaSammarcoWrites; https://www.facebook.com/alissamagenheimlaw
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alissa-j-sammarco-a9299855/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_feed%3BoAGCf9sCT3SQ2scbTIyIqw%3D%3D
• Twitter: @AJSammarco