A former high-school "band geek," Ally now lives in New York City, where she teaches constitutional law at City University of New York School of Law and works on gender equity-related issues. She's also a co-founder of The Purple Campaign, a non-profit organization whose mission is to address workplace harassment (NBD, Ally is also a nationally recognized expert, thought leader, writer, and public speaker on gender equality in the workplace and the #MeToo movement). Read on for her favorite high school memories (and one seriously twisted high school prank)...
Question: Tell us about your high school highlights!
Answer: Going to Dave Matthews, John Mayer, and Counting Crows concerts at Nissan and Merriweather, and listening to Paul Dryden's exclusively distributed limited edition burned CDs featuring the "best music you've probably never heard." Wish I still had those!
(Ally and Paul Dryden at a concert, circa 2003!)
Question: What about the lowlights?
Answer: Although I was a big band geek, I was not a fan of the mandatory participation in the marching band at football games. We could never form a straight "W" and I was never coordinated enough to play clarinet well while also walking. Also, the sweaters were gross and never warm enough for chilly fall evenings!
Question: Back in 2003, could you have pictured yourself on your current career path?
Answer: I might have had some vague notion that I'd end up going to law school, but I would have laughed out loud at the idea of being in front of a classroom, let alone as a law professor! I still laugh about it sometimes.
[Editor's Note: Referring to herself as simply "a law professor" might be the downplay of the century. In addition to her teaching work, Ally has an impressive resume in politics. From 2007 to 2008, she was an organizer on Obama’s presidential campaign, before serving as the Field Director for Senator Patty Murray’s (D-WA) successful 2010 re-election campaign. In 2011, she became Senator Murray’s Political Director and Senator Maria Cantwell’s (D-WA) statewide Finance Director. In 2012, Ally was the Field and Voter Protection Director for Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA)’s successful bid for the U.S. Senate. She served as Press Secretary on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee in 2013.
Ally took a break from politics to go to Harvard Law School, after which she joined the legal department of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. As the campaign’s Deputy Voter Protection Director, she managed the campaign’s volunteer lawyer program, national voter assistance hotline, and oversaw Election Day legal operations in the battleground states. After the election, Ally worked as Elections Counsel on the U.S. House Administration Committee.]
(Ally with Senator Murray and Senator Corey Booker. Picture stolen from the internet without Ally's permission!)
Question: Are you partnered up?
Answer: My partner Bruce is also a lawyer and currently works for the New York City law department in the family court division. He's originally from Australia, so I'm lucky to have a reason to spend time there and now consider myself an honorary Aussie! I'm working on my slang.
(Ally and her partner, Bruce)
Question: Any long-held high school secrets you're dying to get off your chest?
Answer: Becky Wald (Thomas) and I went to Spencers at Montgomery Mall before an 18-hour bus ride to Orlando for a [band and choir] competition and bought as many weird pranks as we could find to entertain ourselves. The worst was a roll of "no rip" toilet paper we put in the bathroom -- it was glued all over so you couldn't get anything more than a tiny piece off no matter how hard you tried, and we cracked up watching everyone shred it to pieces. Sorry, guys!!
(The perpetrators of the great toilet paper scandal, high schoolers Ally Coll and Becky Wald)
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