Spotlighting

California Dreaming of Diversity

Ruthe Catolico Ashley matter-of-factly describes herself as a product of affirmative action. Her entry into law school in the mid-1980s dovetailed with the profession´s need to open its doors to women and people of color. Without delving into the politics of the matter, Ashley is frank about the obligation she feels to keep those doors open for future minority lawyers: "It´s great to be the first woman of color on a board. But my success is gauged by helping other women and minorities find the resources and opportunities that were offered to me."

As chief executive officer and president of CaliforniaALL (CalALL), Ashley is perfectly poised to lend a hand. Formed in 2007, the Sacramento-based nonprofit addresses the condition and effectiveness of the pipeline of diverse youth into career pathways in California. Its goal is to ensure the education and diversity of the state´s workforce and leadership by closing the achievement gap and enhancing the success of California’s students from preschool to the professions. "What differentiates us from other pipeline advocates," explains Ashley, "is that we´re striving to create a collaborative partnership among business, education, government, and the professions on a statewide basis to ensure a pipeline of individuals prepared to successfully lead California’s economic and political future.

"We practice the ‘three Fs,’" she continues. "We find best practices in career pathways starting with law, financial services, and technology; fund education pipelines from pre-school to the professions that have demonstrated success through accountability, evaluation, and documentation; and facilitate the convening of powerful stakeholders."

Ashley notes that, while other advocates have traditionally concentrated on one segment of the pipeline to the exclusion of others, CalALL´s mission is to bring people together. "By doing so," she observes, "we make it easier for programs that typically operate in isolation to share their strengths and resources."

Ashley was born and raised in Hawaii; her parents left their native Philippines after World War II. "My mother was the driving force within the family," Ashley recalls. "I can remember her saying to me, ‘Get an education, Ruthe. That´s the one thing they can never take away from you.’ It was a long way from the barrio where my mother was born to my graduating from law school." Prior to becoming a lawyer, Ashley was a nurse for 15 years. By 1985, she was working as an assistant professor of nursing. "To become a full professor, I needed to get my doctorate, and I didn’t want to do that," she remembers. "But I was very uncertain what my next career move would be."

Then, while away on a "girls only" weekend, far from husbands and kids, Ashley experienced what she refers to as her "mid-life crisis," although she was only 37 at the time. While unpacking her bag in the hotel room, she turned on the TV and began watching—for the first time—The Cosby Show. Almost instantly, Ashley was taken with Clair Huxtable, the sitcom´s serene and wise matriarch. "The character was everything I wanted to be," explains Ashley, almost dreamily."When I learned she was a lawyer, I´d found my new career path. My girlfriends thought I was crazy and my husband was dubious, but I´d made up my mind."

Within two weeks, Ashley had applied and been accepted at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, contingent on her taking the LSAT. "Mind you, I had no idea what the LSAT was, but that was incidental," she shares. "I took a prep course and did fine. For me, the hardest part was transitioning from the mind of a nurse to the mind of lawyer; my first year at law school was a big struggle.

After law school, Ashley joined litigation teams at several small and large firms. In 1998, she was a founding partner at the first Asian American women-owned law firm in the greater Sacramento area. The firm specialized in healthcare law, civil, employment, and business litigation. Ashley also served as assistant dean for career and special development at her alma mater.

"As assistant dean, my job was to help prepare law students for the entirety of their careers, and this required a lot of outreach both locally and nationally," explains Ashley. She extended her reach to ethnic bars; the State Bar of California,where she was elected to the board of governors; and the American Bar Association, where she focused on pipeline projects as chair of the Presidential Advisory Council on Diversity. For Ashley, it was a chance to wear the "McGeorge hat" as a woman of color and sit at the table where policy is made. The connections made as assistant dean later proved invaluable, especially through meeting like-minded people aware of the importance of diversity within the legal profession.

Prior to joining CalALL, Ashley was chief diversity officer for the California Public Employment Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest public pension fund in the U.S., with assets then in excess of $250 billion. It was there that a team of law and finance professionals got together and composed the CalALL concept.

"It´s not imperative to CalALL that a majority of participating youths grow up to be lawyers or finance professionals. We´re not forcing them into one or two career paths," explains Ashley. "Our goal is for young students to acquire the ability to think critically, and to improve their writing and speaking skills. Once they have that base, a myriad of options open up for them.

"We also like to expose minority students to successful minority professionals," she continues. "It´s important for the students to see that people who look like them—who grew up in the same neighborhoods and came up against similar obstacles—have grown up to enjoy careers in the legal and finance professions. At the program´s best, there is an inspirational, aspirational, and motivational thing happening here."

During her years as a public health nurse, Ashley related most strongly to women´s issues. At McGeorge, where she was exposed to legal civil rights issues like the Chinese Exclusion Act, Ashley first became aware of and involved in addressing racial discrimination. "I was always a woman, but I became a woman of color in law school, " quips Ashley, a past president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. "That led me to appreciate the value of affinity groups. It´s important for me to have a connection to other professionals who understand the immigrant experience, know how it feels to be the only brown face at the table, and have dealt personally with discrimination issues."

Ashley notes that she increasingly is aware of the importance of the pipeline in supplying new minority lawyers. Wherever her career and retirement paths lead her, Ashley is determined that she will do something to help further diversity within the profession. "It´s a lifelong passion and commitment for me," she concludes. "As long as I´m able, I´ll help in some way." DB

Patrick Folliard is a freelance writer based in Silver Spring, Md.

From the September/October 2009 issue of Diversity & The Bar^®