Kara D. Nottingham earned a B.A. from Hampton University with a major in political science and a minor in Spanish. At Hampton, she served as chair of the cultural affairs committee of the Student Government Association and was active in the Political Science Club, Leadership Institute, and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She interned with Senator Lieberman and the American Civil Liberties Union and served as campaign coordinator for the Democratic National Committee Grassroots Campaign Office.

At William & Mary, Kara was co-president of Students for Equality in Legal Education, served on the Executive Board of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Black Law Students Association, and chaired the Black Law Students Annual Law Day.

She was a member of Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity and the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. She volunteered with the Virginia Bar Association legal aid clinic and completed an externship with a local law firm, Mellette.

During summer 2007, Kara interned for the Honorable Fern Flanagan Saddler of the District of Columbia Superior Court and, in summer 2008, worked with Shearman & Sterling, splitting her time between their Washington, D.C. and New York offices. During fall 2008 Kara participated in the semester exchange program with the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, Spain, taking courses in the field of international business law.

After graduation, she worked in international human rights law at International Bridges to Justice in Geneva, Switzerland, then as an associate at Shearman & Sterling in their D.C. office. She now works in the legal unit of the United Nations office in Geneva.

We are proud of her achievement and we name her Most Influential 100 Class of 2018 Business and Entrepreneurship category.