Episode 2: Deanna Pantin Parish and Ana Carolina Viana Riella
Deanna Pantin Parish and Ana Carolina Viana Riella
In this episode, Edgar talks to Deanna Pantin Parish, who is a Senior Clinical Instructor for Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinic Program and Ana Carolina Viana Riella, who is the Outreach and Case Coordinator for the Harvard Mediation Program.
Ana is from Brazil, born and raised in Curitiba, capital for Parana State. She lived in Brazil until graduating from law school. After college she decided to study abroad and moved to Paris, France, where she stayed for 3 years. In France she met a professor who suggested the idea of studying in the US and eventually, pursued her master’s degree in Georgetown University. After receiving her degree, she went to work in NYC where she met another Brazilian, who lived in Boston at the time, and who she knew since she was 13 years old. They started dating and later got married and then moved to Boston. In Boston, Ana had the chance to work with the HLS Mediation Program as a community member and when an opportunity presented itself, she joined the program and became a full time staff. Ana has been working at HLS for 11 years now.
Deanna is from Miami. Her mom is from Cuba and her father from Indiana. She is part of a large Latino family with 30 first cousins on her mom’s side. She studied at Washington University in St. Louis. It was only in college that Deanna realized how Latino Miami really was, but she a had a great time studying there. After graduation, she moved to Washington-DC and NY for a while. She worked for the Obama administration and the Clinton’s Global Initiative before she came to study law at HLS. She talks about her experience at HLS and how challenging it felt at first to feel included in the social life at school. By the end of the first year she took a class on Negotiation/Mediation. After HLS, and thinking of her path in mediation, she joined the Center for Conflict Resolution in Chicago where she stayed for a while. After that, she decided to move abroad and went to Australia where she spent some years until she started missing home and moved back to US. Through her connection with Professor Rachel Viscomi, a mentor and a friend, she learned about a position in the Dispute Design Clinic and she took the job where she works to the present day.
Ana and Deanna tell us how they met, how they feel about their careers.
Tune into the next episode to learn about an amazing project they worked together in Brazil.
The goal of this podcast is to introduce folks to HLS staff members from across the community. You may recognize the names of some guests, and if you don’t, that’s okay! We hope that you will tune in to learn more about your colleagues—what their role is, what makes them tick, and why they do the work that they do at HLS. If you’re interested in being a guest, please let us know—we would love to hear your story. Our stories bring us together; we come from different backgrounds and serve all different roles, but our shared community at HLS unites us. Let us hear your story!
Filed in: Tell Me Your Story