SECOND ACTS
MAKING AN IMPACT to Boston and I saw it as an opportunity for a career change.” Unable to find a right-fit public interest position after a long search, Brienza returned to private real estate practice. “Even though it wasn’t ideal, continuing as a corporate lawyer was valuable as I learned to meet stringent work standards and explored complex problems,” she says. “I also had exposure to environmental law and became passionately interested in the climate change.”
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ife can take circuitous routes. When Catherine Brienza arrived at St. John’s Law in the early 1980s, she was intent on becoming a public interest lawyer. But the draw to BigLaw proved hard for the Brooklyn-raised fireman’s daughter to resist and, after graduating, she started her career in corporate real estate. Five years later, still at the firm and on a partnership track, Brienza again felt pulled in a different direction. “I was happy at the law firm, and was fortunate to work with a senior partner who was funny, super intelligent, and relatable,” she says. “But then my husband and I moved
After starting a family, Brienza left the law and found other ways to make an impact, volunteering to support children with autism and tutoring youth from underserved communities. “Working with these children was a second passion of mine, but I also remained involved politically, raising awareness and funds for environmentally-focused political candidates,” she shares. Years later, Brienza’s passions and past ambitions coalesced after she attended the 2017 Women’s March, the worldwide protest held the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. “I felt the call for change and, believing that many voters were influenced by poor or slanted information, I wanted to educate the public about the intricacies of underlying laws, policies, and governmental procedures,” she says. “There needed to be more critical thinking on the part of voters in choosing and voting for candidates.” With that aim and incentive, Brienza founded JOLT USA, a New Jersey non-profit dedicated to the activation of an educated citizenry.
Catherine Brienza ’85 from immigration to voter suppression, and, of course, the environment,” she explains. “After each event, participants wrote postcards to our representatives advocating for, or opposing, particular measures. We also organized rallies and marches for causes, including Black Lives Matter, gun reform, and Pride. The March for Our Lives in Hackensack, which JOLT co-hosted, garnered over 2000 attendees, and our voter registration and get out the vote efforts in 2020 contributed to wins in battleground states.” For her work at JOLT USA and its community outreach arm, RidgewoodJOLT, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez presented Brienza with the Evangelina Menendez Trailblazer Award in 2019. The honor recognizes her commitment to educating and empowering others. That same commitment guided Brienza when she and her husband established a generous student scholarship at St. John’s Law recently. “I grew up in a working-class family and was the first to attend college and law school,” Brienza says. “Receiving a scholarship to St. John’s not only lightened my economic burden, but also motivated me to work extremely hard. With this scholarship, my husband and I are paying that support forward with an unwavering belief in firstgeneration students. At JOLT, I see firsthand in our interns their belief, commitment, motivation, and drive. The future is in their hands. And I hope the Law School scholarship will help someone like them, so they can make a positive impact on the world.”
“We began by hosting monthly events with experts on issues of public importance, ranging SPRING 2021 l 47
