Tomi approaches the work of the IHRC through a deeply personal lens. An immigrant herself, Tomi was raised to adopt a global perspective on matters related to quality of life, equality of opportunity, safety, and identity. In her youth, she organized fundraisers for HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa and disaster relief in Japan.
While pursuing her undergraduate degree from the School of Public & International Affairs at Princeton, Tomi conducted research into past and ongoing identity-based conflicts in Belgium, Myanmar, Spain and the UK. She also participated in Model U.N., a passion she first discovered in high school. After college, she worked as a project assistant at a large multinational law firm, where she assisted with asylum cases sponsored by the National Immigrant Justice Center.
At USC Gould, Tomi has served as the President of the Black Law Students Association, the 2L Class Vice President, the Outreach Chair for the Womxn of Color Collective, the Social Chair of the Stanley & Ilene Gold Honors Scholars Program, a Peer Mentor, a Teaching Assistant to Prof. Daniel Klerman, and a 1L Representative for the International Law and Relations Organization. She is presently the 3L Class President and a Senior Articles Editor for the Interdisciplinary Law Journal. Tomi previously split her 1L
summer between Jones Day, where she was an SEO Law Fellow in 2019, and Jenner & Block. She also spent her 2L summer at Jenner & Block.
“The instinct that most strongly guides me is making a difference in the world and impacting it for the better. I’m drawn to the prospect of seeing systems of justice be established, reinforced, and improved in real time, and of having meaningful involvement in such processes.”