Biographical Statement of Johanna Leblanc

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Johanna Leblanc is a Haitian-American woman

whose parents migrated to the United States from

Port-au-Prince, Haiti, when she was ten (10) years

old. Growing up, Johanna decided to pursue the

‘’American Dream”, believing that investing in her

education was the surest way to success. Having

placed much emphasis on education throughout her

life, Johanna recently graduated with a Doctor of

Jurisprudence (JD) from Indiana University- Robert

H. McKinney School of Law.

In addition to her JD, Ms Leblanc also holds a Master of Science in Public Administration from

Florida A&M University (FAMU), and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Bethune-

Cookman University (BCU). She graduated from BCU in 2009.

As a law student, due to some of her efforts on and off campus, she was named the “2015-2016

Outstanding Woman Student Leader” of the entire Indiana University-Purdue University School

system. She was nominated by the faculty at Indiana University Robert H McKinney School of

Law. Ms Leblanc is also the recipient for the 2016 Class of the Bethune-Cookman University 40

under 40 award.

Throughout her law school career, she worked as an Adjunct Professor at Ivy Tech Community

College; advocated for better environmental policies, raised awareness to housing issues impacting

immigrants; worked on women’s rights issues both internationally and locally; and served on

various boards in Indianapolis as a way to contribute positively to her community.

Biographical Statement of Johanna Leblanc

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Ms Leblanc is the Chairwoman of the Advisory Board for the Haitian Association of Indiana (HAI)

and also a member of the Business Advisory Board for Job for America’s Graduates (JAG). Her

ultimate purpose in life is to utilize her education, research skills, and work experience to influence

policies that will benefit all Americans.

Considering that the legal profession is the least diversified field in the United States, in 2015, Ms

Leblanc partnered with the Admissions Office at the Indiana University-Robert H. McKinney

School of Law and started an annual “High School Law Day” program. She specifically targeted

African Americans and other minority high school students in low income communities in order

to expose them to the legal profession. In 2016, over 100 high school students were in attendance.

She believes that two of the contributions towards the lack of diversity in the legal profession are

due to lack of mentorship and exposure.

Ms Leblanc also started an annual fundraising gala to raise awareness of child abuse, domestically

and globally. Under her leadership, over eight-thousand dollars was raised within a two year period

and donated to organizations that provide resources to victims of child abuse. In spite of working

several jobs while in law school to support herself financially, and having legal custody of her

younger sibling, she consistently found time to use her platform to raise awareness of some of

society’s most critical issues and plans to continue doing so as a public servant.

Furthermore, Ms Leblanc has also developed a keen interest in environmental justice issues in the

United States, specifically in relation to the Clean Air Act, and in coal power plants located in

communities where people of color are overwhelmingly represented, and incomes are low. Ms

Leblanc believes that we must work on the elimination of coal as a source of energy, and

transitioning to other forms of energy that do not disproportionately impact the heath of poor

African-Americans.

Biographical Statement of Johanna Leblanc

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Ms Leblanc is the President of Johanna Leblanc Consulting. In that capacity, she hosts workshops

and seminars, both domestically and internationally, at universities, governmental agencies,

churches, high schools and corporate events. Some of her topics include; diversity, human

resources, sexual harassment, branding, customer service, the importance of education and

management efficiency, to name a few. Ms Leblanc has taught “Branding” and ”The Legal Rights

of Grandparents and Non-Custodial Parents” at Indiana University-Purdue University (IUPUI).

Ms Leblanc is currently traveling throughout Southern and Western Africa to promote education,

girls and women’s rights. In addition, she worked on election reforms and proposed policies to

ensure judicial accountability in the Republic of Ghana.