FEATURED BOSS
OF THE
MONTH
Monalisa Weber
Interview by Felicia Martin
Monalisa Weber -Natural Advocate for the Underdog
“Homelessness. Cigarette burns on their Body. Sexual Abuse. Raped by the Mom’s Boyfriend, Mental Health issues. 10 Black Boys in a Box. Assembly Line. Factory-like methods. Ugh…it goes on and on.”
When you first ask Monalisa Weber about the work she is doing in the criminal justice system, her voice is light and ready. You can tell she has been interviewed before and is used to speaking about this subject. It sounds almost systematic, until she actually speaks about the system.
Then you hear it. “Ugh”. A tired, realized ‘Ugh’. After repeating adjective after adjective describing what happens to those in the criminal justice system, especially yur young men and women she emits a small but powerful “ugh”. In that moment, you feel the weight leave with the breath after the Ugh; and in the moments of silence afterwards, you literally feel her pick it back up, put it back on her shoulders, to fight again the next day.
I read an article on you in the Broward new Times. You graduated from Florida Atlantic University and completed an internship with the Florida Department of Corrections. Subsequently you ended up working for them as a Probation Officer. You went in ready to ‘change people's lives’, but you were quoted as describing it as, “….not a healthy environment. I loved the courtroom, but it was a factory.” Interesting choice of words, talk to me about a day in the ‘factory’?
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