The Case of Rachel Humphrey: Trial Attorney Turned Women’s Leadership Champion

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Rachel Humphrey was a trial attorney who was certain she would spend her entire career in front of judges and juries and eventually retire in a courtroom. After relocating from Virginia to Atlanta with her husband, she took a job at a firm where she represented clients in the hospitality industry, and that sparked a passion she didn’t know she had. The hospitality industry was interesting to her, and she thought that becoming involved with the associations that help the industry might be a great next step, but she had no real business experience at all.

Prompted by the unexpected departure of the nanny who took care of her children, Rachel decided to leave her job to be there for her young family. This also allowed her to do some serious soul searching and figure out what would come next.

A serendipitous conversation with Cati Stone, then the executive director of Komen Atlanta, opened Rachel’s eyes in ways she never could have imagined. As fate would have it, and what Rachel didn’t know, was that Cati happened to be a former trial attorney who moved into a role as an association executive. The advice Rachel got from Cati showed her that there was a viable – and possible – path to follow her passion.

Rachel networked her way into an executive role with AAHOA, the largest hotel owners association in the country, eventually ascending to the role of Interim CEO. After realizing a need for more diversity in the hospitality, she later founded the Women in Hospitality Leadership Alliance.

In this episode, Rachel shares her path from fighting legal battles to advocating for women, and all the trials that went along with her journey.

If you like this episode, you may also enjoy these episodes featuring former attorneys with incredible second act careers:

Second Act Stories theme music: “Between 1 and 3 am” by Echoes