A Calling That Started in First Grade

The decision surprised even her own family. They didn’t know any attorneys at the time. There was no blueprint, no immediate role model to mirror. Still, the idea never left her. LeKeyia remembers exactly when it started.

“It actually hit me in first grade,” she recalled. “It was career day, and you had to dress up as what you wanted to be. I told my mom I wanted to be a lawyer.”

So her mom improvised.

“My mom was in cosmetology school at the time, so she gave me her white jacket,” LeKeyia laughed. “I went to school telling everybody I wanted to be a lawyer, but I looked like a doctor that day.”

What started as a child’s declaration quickly became something more serious within LeKeyia’s household.

“When you tell your parents you want to be a lawyer or a doctor,” she said, “they remind you every day.”

That early clarity planted a seed that would guide nearly every decision she made afterward. But the roots of her ambition were already forming at home.

Raised by Women Who Built Their Own Way

LeKeyia grew up between Rockdale County and Newton County, Georgia, in a family where entrepreneurship wasn’t unusual; it was expected. Her father served in the military, which meant the family occasionally moved, even spending time in Japan, where her sister was born. But Georgia always remained home. And inside that home were powerful examples of independence.

“I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs,” she said. “My mother, my grandmother, my aunt, my great-aunt, they were all entrepreneurs. Women pioneers in their own right.”

Watching those women build businesses gave her a framework for what leadership looked like long before she stepped into a courtroom. In a small-town environment where everyone knew everyone, family and community were deeply connected. Those values stayed with her.

“I always had people to look up to,” LeKeyia said. “And being the oldest child, I was always the one standing up for people.”

That instinct — to advocate, to lead, to protect — would eventually find its natural home in the law. But first, LeKeyia had to prove to herself that she could make it there.

Learning the Law Before Law School

While attending Georgia State University, LeKeyia made a decision that would shape her understanding of the profession long before she earned her law degree. She started working at a law firm.

What began as an internship quickly evolved into something deeper. She worked her way through multiple roles — file clerk, administrative support, and legal assistant — learning the mechanics of the profession from the inside out.

“I worked through all the different positions at a small firm,” LeKeyia said. “That way I knew exactly what I was getting into.”

Unlike many students who move directly from undergraduate studies to law school, LeKeyia intentionally waited.

“I actually got accepted to law school right out of undergrad,” she explained. “But I decided to wait three years.”

Those years gave her something invaluable: real-world perspective. By the time she enrolled at Atlanta's John Marshall Law School, she understood both the opportunity and the sacrifice that came with the legal profession. Still, preparation didn’t make the journey easy. Law school would test her in ways she had never experienced before.

The Hard Chapters That Build Resilience

For LeKeyia, the hardest part of law school wasn’t intelligence. It was adjustment.

“Law school is very different from what you’re used to,” she said. “Everything rides on one test for the semester.”

That pressure alone can break many students. Add financial responsibilities, work restrictions, and the natural competitiveness of law school, and the challenge multiplies. Even before law school, there were moments when doubt crept in.

“I remember after my freshman year of college telling my mom I wanted to take a break,” LeKeyia admitted. “I told her I might go get my real estate license.”

Her mother’s response changed everything.

“She told me, ‘If you take a break, you probably won’t go back,’” LeKeyia continued.

Her uncle, a physician, also stepped in with encouragement.

“He told me to go to summer school and keep pushing,” LeKeyia said. “I’m thankful I listened.”

That support system mattered because LeKeyia was breaking new ground. “I’m the first graduate in my immediate family,” she said.

The pressure to succeed was real, but so was the belief surrounding her. That belief would later carry her through another pivotal chapter: launching her own law firm.

Opening a Law Firm With Faith and Determination

Many attorneys spend years building experience under established firms before opening their own practice. LeKeyia took a different route. The day her bar results were released, she made a decision that would define the next chapter of her career.

“I went straight to the Georgia Secretary of State website,” she recalled. “I opened my business, got my tax ID number, and started my practice.”

By Monday, she was sworn in as an attorney. By Wednesday, she was in court.

“I had about a hundred dollars in my pocket,” LeKeyia laughed. “But I decided I would take whatever came through the door.”

In the beginning, LeKeyia rented office space from a mentor who continued guiding her as she built her client base. Criminal defense cases helped generate income. Probate matters, family law issues, and court appointments filled the gaps.

“I was boots on the ground nonstop,” she said.

Every case became another brick in the foundation of what would eventually become Reid Law Group, P.C. After several years of building experience across multiple practice areas, LeKeyia realized something critical. To grow the firm, she needed to evolve the business.