Ayanna Hill is originally from Jackson, Mississippi. While there, she attended both public and private schools, like Siwell Middle School and Adhiambo. She received the 2nd Place Outstanding Achievement award from Tougaloo College. After her family relocated to Clinton, she graduated with high honors from Clinton High School. She later earned her bachelor’s degree in political science, graduating Magna Cum Laude from Mississippi State University.
While there, Ayanna participated in a multitude of leadership and community organizations, including Day One Leadership Program, LeaderSTATE, and the Peers Assisting with Students program facilitated by the Homes Cultural Diversity Center. Though she worked two full-time jobs to pay for school, she was a member of the NAACP, Secretary of the Pre-Law Society, and Vice President of the Council of Residential Experiences (C.O.R.E) at Creswell Hall. In 2017, she received the “MLP Fellow” award for completion of the esteemed G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Leadership Program. After graduation, she spent a year working for the Honorable Senator Thad Cochran at his Jackson office, with her focus primarily being constituent intake and letter writing.
Ayanna’s experiences within these organizations opened her eyes to the disadvantages of some and is what ultimately motivated her to attend law school. In 2021, Ayanna earned a Juris Doctorate from Vanderbilt University Law School in Nashville, Tennessee. During her time there, she was Secretary of the Black Law Student’s Association and operated under a supervisory license for the Youth Opportunity Clinic, which was dedicated to taking a wholistic approach of providing legal services to those aged between 16-24. She also studied abroad in Venice, Italy and externed for the Honorable United States District Court Judge James C. Mahan in Nevada.
Since then, Ayanna has externed, and then clerked, on the Mississippi Court of Appeals for two years under the tutelage of Honorable Judge Latrice A. Westbrooks. She has also been a Summer Policy and Advocacy Fellow for the ACLU of Mississippi. Now, she joins the ACLU of Mississippi as the Constance Slaughter-Harvey Staff Attorney with the focus of ensuring that fairness is applied equally to all Mississippians.
Ayanna enjoys kickboxing and the theatre. She believes in fighting for what is right and making sure that everyone has an opportunity to be heard. More than anything, she has hope that Mississippi will one day become the beacon for equality and justice.
