Wala Blegay has been a Prince George’s County resident for over 20 years and is an advocate who has fought for Civil Rights, Women’s Rights and Workers’ Rights. She is currently counsel for the DC Nurses Association, a talk show host for the Chat With a Lawyer TV Show, which provides free legal advice to the residents of Prince George’s County, Maryland. and an adjunct professor at American University Washington College of Law. She recently ran for State Delegate in District 25 in Prince George’s County, MD.

Since 2014, Wala has been the staff attorney for the DC Nurses Association where she advocates to improve the working environment for nurses. She enrolled in the Union Summer program in 2005 while in college where sje participated in strikes, organizing campaigns and demonstrations. During the program, she organized the Metropolitan Museum of Art kiosk workers in New York. Although the union lost that election, she learned what it took to empower workers to work in solidarity with their colleagues to improve their working conditions. Shortly after college, she worked for AFSCME on their homecare and daycare workers campaign and she decided she wanted to join the movement and become a Union lawyer. She worked for the AFL-CIO and SEIU while in law school and for the NLRB after law school.

Wala previously served on the Prince George’s County Human Relations Commission, the adjudicatory board that enforces discriminatory cases in the County. She was also appointed to the Maryland Governor’s Task Force for the Study of Economic Development and Apprenticeship Programs by Former Governor Martin O’Malley. She has served on the following Boards: The Training Source, ACLU of Maryland, Maryland Legislative Agenda for Women, Prince George’s County NAACP, Emerge Maryland and Maryland Coalition of Consumer Rights. She was also a recipient of the 2015 40 under 40 in Prince George’s County award, the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials Presidential Service Award and the Daily Record Leading Women award. She has written several articles on civil rights, health care and education issues; ran numerous campaigns in Maryland and the District of Columbia; and was an At-Large Delegate for the 2012 Democratic Convention.

Wala was born and raised in Washington DC and is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She is a first generation Liberian and Nigerian American; a graduate of University of Maryland, College Park with a B.A. in Government and Politics; and earned a J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law.