Jelani Freeman

Jelani Freeman is a community leader, attorney and motivational speaker who has dedicated his life to serving children. His commitment to kids grew from his own experience as he was abandoned by his mother while his father was in prison. He was placed in the foster care system at age 9 and spent time in multiple foster homes, shelters, group homes, and juvenile facilities before aging out of the system at age 18.

Freeman is a government lawyer who graduated from Howard University Law School in 2010. It was an improbable journey for foster children to even graduate high school, yet he beat the odds.

Freeman, who interned in Clinton's Senate office, says she inspired him to go to law school. He told the Washington Post in 2010 that Hillary even talked to him about his career plans. "I sort of see this as a collective achievement," Freeman, then 29, told the Post. "People say encouraging things to other people because it's the nice thing to do. But she was sincere. She helped me believe it."

He spoke in the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia to support Hillary Clinton in 2016. Clinton cited him as an inspiration in the 2006 edition of her book, "It Takes A Village."

Freeman has been working as an appellate attorney for the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2010. Freeman has given several motivational speeches across the country. He sits on the Boards of the Center for Adoption Support & Education (CASE) and the Barker Foundation where he has provided consultation to Barker’s Project Wait No Longer, which finds adoptive homes for foster youth.