Smith, Flora

Flora Smith identifies as female. She is from Atlanta, Georgia, but was born in Chicago, Illinois. Flora is a first-year student at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. She loves her friends and playing Dungeons and Dragons. She also believes that Monday is the first day of the week, not Sunday.

Laura Good-Devereaux is a single mother in Atlanta, Georgia. Born in Germany, Laura’s professional career is focused on special education and has included advising both Presidents Clinton and Obama on a range of domestic policy issues.  Despite her busy lifestyle, Laura enjoys being at home with her daughter and her cat.

Reflection: As someone who does not often find themselves interviewing others, I can’t help but think that it went well. At first, it felt a little strange acting so formal with someone I already know, but Laura’s open demeanor and support was really helpful. I was worried that my questions weren’t thought provoking enough; luckily, Laura didn’t agree. She always had very insightful things to say and was very open about herself. I spoke a lot less than I thought I would.

During the interview, it was sometimes difficult because Laura would answer a question before I asked it, so I had to rephrase my questions. What was probably the most difficult for me was transcribing the interview. Not only did it take a long time, but trying to capture Laura’s way of talking proved to be difficult. In the end, I didn’t add all of her fill-ins (“likes,” “ya knows,” “ums”) but I did include quite a few just to show that she wasn’t perfect. Nobody is. In the end, I’m glad I chose Laura because she gave me such a fulfilling interview and I learned so much.