Areva Martin, a high-profile award-winning civil rights attorney, talk show host, commentator, author, and keynote speaker, is the definition of self-made. What can she not do? With appearances on shows such as Dr. Phil, CNN, Good Morning America, Spectrum 1, and more, Martin is a force to be reckoned with as she offers hard-hitting commentary. For years she has fearlessly used her voice and wit to discuss a multitude of topics surrounding politics, women’s rights, children, disability rights, civil rights, and more.
Well versed, she has experience as a host (and co-host) of various television and digital talk shows such as the Emmy Award winning daytime talk show “The Doctors”, “Face the Truth” on CBS, “The Special Report with Areva Martin,” and “Areva Martin in Real Time” on KBLA’s daily prime time news covering politics and social affairs. She also has her own law firm, Martin & Martin LLP, that has handled prominent high profile cases such as police shootings, #metoo cases, and most recently. the Palm Springs Section 14 Survivors case.
Martin recently joined other experts and scholars for State of the People: a 24-Hour a digital event called Marathon Black Leadership Summit, hosted by prominent public figures Angela Rye, Andrew Gillum, Joy Reid, and more on March 4. About 30 journalists, political leaders, activists, policy makers and scholars took part in the 24-hour marathon. The goal of the event was to educate the American people and combat the falsehoods of President Trump’s joint address to Congress as he simultaneously discussed his recent executive orders since retaining office.
“We know that when Trump’s lips are moving, he is lying. We also know that we can’t count on legacy media to give us an unbiased analysis of what he is doing, particularly as it relates to his efforts to undermine anything that has been a ‘gain’ for us, or since, the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” said Martin.
“How am I feeling as a Civil Rights lawyer watching Donald Trump and the millions of voters that voted for him… trying to take this country back to a period before integration and take us back to a segregated country… its incredibly disturbing,”
Martin also has a husband, Ernest Martin Jr., two daughters and a son. She is also the President and CEO of the Special Needs Network, an organization she created to advocate for disability rights and people across the autistic spectrum, as her son has autism. She has also written three books: “The Everyday Advocate: How to Stand Up for Your Autistic Child,” “Make it Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand,” and “Awakening: Ladies, Leadership, and the Lies We’ve Been Told.”
A rose from the concrete
Her story began in a way that most can relate, humble beginnings in the Carr Square Village projects of St. Louis MO., where she was raised by her grandmother and godmother. Her grandmother was a janitor and maid, her mother was a single mother. Martin did not meet her father until she was 18-years-old. Before Martin was born, her grandmother was shot, suffering from domestic violence at the hands of a partner and became paralyzed from the waist down. This impacted Martin. Despite these difficulties, the women in her family showed her how to prevail and beat the odds.
“Even though we were considered low income and poor, I was surrounded by so much love, so many strong and resilient Black women from my early childhood memories.”
Her godfather was a postal worker and godmother, a janitor. Neither had college degrees but were smart with their financial choices, according to Martin. Both of them saved up enough money to buy a home, teaching Martin and others how to properly manage finances. She atones their success to their hard work ethic and knowing ‘how to make a lot out of little and being very resilient.”
When she went to college during the 80s, at the University of Chicago, she experienced two different worlds, it was a culture shock to her. The students were predominantly White and came from wealthy backgrounds. “I felt very isolated, very lonely, it was very challenging and I thought of leaving but I stuck it out.” She added, “What I realized early on is even though I didn’t have the same background as many of my fellow students, I had an incredible work ethic and I used that to even the playing field. I graduated with a 3.7GPA, Magna Cum Laude.” Martin put in the work, spending countless hours in the library to achieve her Bachelor’s degree in economics. She went on to get her Jurors Doctor at Harvard Law School.
“I’m a risk taker. There’s something about poverty… there would be no failure. I had already achieved far more than one had expected me to achieve.” She added “I wasn’t a third generation Harvard graduate, I wasn’t going to be letting down two and three generations of family members. I didn’t have that pressure that others had. I had gotten out of the ghetto and gone to college. I was the most successful person I knew.” She went on to attend Harvard Law School.
Choosing tables that make room for everyone
Rachel Noerdlinger is an equity partner for Actum. She oversees strategic communications, crisis management, public affairs and community involvement in electoral politics for the worldwide public strategy organization. Noerdlinger collaborated with Martin to assist with the strategic communicative aspects of the historic Section 14 Survivors Palm Springs case. It is a victory that, in many ways, illustrates reparations for Black and Brown homeowners.
“Areva is an unsung hero. What she has done is nothing short of historic in so many spaces. Whether it’s the work she’s done as a civil rights attorney, one of the leading in the country, or the work she has done as an advocate navigating disability rights. She is a Shero to me!”
Section 14, a historically Black and Brown neighborhood in the City of Palm Springs, received a comprehensive settlement package including $5.9 million in cash payments to African American and Latino residents whose homes were demolished from the 1950s to 60s, by the city. “The destruction led to economic, physical and emotional trauma for the residents of Section 14 and their descendants, who have not been able to recover the generational wealth that was taken from them,” according to a statement from Martin & Martin LLP.
Bonnie Berry LaMon is an entertainment lawyer and friend of Martin. They’ve known each other for years as they were in the same social circles and saw each other at various events. The two originally met during their time at Harvard Law School, with Martin graduating a year ahead of LaMon. She is also a board member of Martin’s non-profit organization, the Special Needs Network.
“Areva is driven by empathy. She cares deeply about people and social injustice on a personal level, so she is driven to make a difference and that drive manifests itself in the fact that she never stops.” LaMon holds Martin in high regards as their friendship and business relationship has allowed them to cultivate a genuine connection and bond throughout the years. They both also have children who are autistic, further deepening their work through the Special Needs Network.
Fellow attorney and Harvard Law graduate, Caprice Collins has been a mentor to Martin, which she says has played an important role in her career and formation of her law firm, Martin & Martin LLP. Collins taught Martin the importance of building generational wealth when she — at one point — contemplated leaving the legal field after severe burnout from a prior law firm she worked for.
For the ladies
In her book “Awakening: for the Ladies, Leadership, and the Lies We’ve Been Told ,” Martin gives a myriad of gems on how women can face the challenges of navigating through corporate spaces, professional relationships and the trajectory of their careers. The book’s focus is on “exposing lies told by society that have held women back for so long,” and how to find solutions that augment a woman’s success.
For example, Martin discussed the importance of networking with people who are different from you in the corporate world. “Go into these spaces and use your emotional intelligence to figure out where the power base is. So often when we go into organizations, we gravitate to people who look like us.” She added. “That may not be what’s in our best interest from a career standpoint. As an employer, I even tell my employees , ‘When you work for a company, even me, figure out who is in control…where’s the power base’? Those are the people that will make a difference in your promotion or raise.”
She also shared how when women operate in a strategic way in corporate spaces, “they are told they are transactional yet, men are praised.”
“A lot of the time there’s an attachment to what we’ve been taught. I had to grapple with that. It’s often taught by our parents.” She said that women and Black people as a whole have to broaden their circles if they want to be successful in other environments outside of their comfort zone.
Today, Areva Martin stands tall as a leader, Black woman and “America’s Advocate.” She offers advice to the Black women who find themselves exhausted in the wake of the Trump administration’s recent reversal of DEI efforts, as various marginalized communities are concurrently under attack.
“I am so grateful to the many women that play an important role in my life. I think that women are going to be the way out of all of this. I know that Black women are tired and want to sit this out. I know after this recent election we all have collectively said ‘take a break’ but the break is over.” She added, “It is going to take our collective energy, strength, creativity, and power to get us out of this. We as Black women, know how important this is for future generations. We have to honor those Civil Rights pioneers that gave up so much for us.”