Class of 1996 Profile: Meg Smothers Robinson

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Meg is interviewed here by Rebecca Rich:

After high school, Meg joined five other YTI ’96ers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (In fact, Meg, Laura Willard, and Jamie DeMent were suitemates in their first year at UNC.) Meg majored in public policy and was short only a few credits for a minor in religious studies.

After graduating in 2001, Meg moved to Atlanta and has lived there ever since. Her first job after college was a fellowship doing environmental policy and advocacy work, and in 2003, Meg became the Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of Georgia.

She then went to law school at Georgia State and became an Assistant District Attorney in DeKalb County Juvenile Court. She returned to policy work in November 2010 and is working currently as Chief of Staff and General Counsel to Georgia State Senator Jason Carter. Meg and her husband Jonathan have been married since 2006 and live in Decatur, where they continue to renovate their really old house (across the street from where Emily Saliers lives!).

For Meg, YTI impacted what she studied in college, and prompted her to think about spirituality and justice together. Since returning to the world of Georgia politics, she struggles with the role religion plays in politics and the way faith is used (and abused) in political discourse. She also cherishes being a part of the YTI world, full of people who are doing interesting and amazing things.

Meg can reached at: mrob22@gmail.com