Chicago native, mompreneur, and founder of the RJ Pierce Law Group, Rosezena Pierce, is sticking to the bottom line and securing the bag for Black entrepreneurs.
Born and raised on the west side of Chicago. As a child, Pierce always knew she wanted to be a lawyer.
“I always knew I wanted to be a lawyer since I was five. One reason being [because] my father actually worked as a law clerk for a lawyer when I was a little girl. Sometimes he would take me to the law office and I loved to sit at the lawyer’s desk and I [would say to myself] I do not know what they are doing, but this is what I wanna do,” Pierce stated.
For her, watching her father at work would set the tone for the rest of her life.
Now, Pierce is behind helping Trademark the businesses of some of the biggest names in Hip-Hop and Reality TV, but her journey was not an easy one.
After graduating with her associate’s degree from Northwestern Business College, Pierce decided to finish her bachelor’s at Roosevelt University, and then ultimately made a choice to go to The John Marshall Law School. By that time, Pierce was already a full-time parent with two kids and one more on the way to attending school part-time.
“So, I got pregnant with [my daughter] in my last semester of law school. [When I went into labor] I had her by C- section and by next week I was [back] in class. I was bent over in class and everything, but I graduated three months later and began studying for the bar exam,” Pierce said.
Anxiously, waiting for the results of her bar exam. As time goes by, Pierce becomes conflicted about balancing her work life with her personal obligations as a parent.
“When I found out that I passed the bar on the first try, I was like thank you, God, I really did this, I’m so happy but now I am conflicted. I really like being home when my kids come home from school, but I know that the job that I want at a big law firm in Chicago is going to require a lot of hours from me. Which would [in turn] take a lot of time away from my kids,” Rosezena explained.
Yet, little did Pierce know that she would meet someone who would shift the trajectory of her life forever.
Starting Her Business Journey
Luckily, before having to make any decisions, Pierce would be required to take a course at her law school as a result of finishing her tenure there.
“I pass the bar and Illinois makes you take a professional responsibility course, before getting sworn in to get your license. So, because the course was taught by a professor who actually teaches lawyers how to start their own law practice, I decided to tell him how conflicted I was,” Pierce said.
It was in this conversation that her professor encouraged her to take a leap of faith and start her own law firm.
“He told me well, you should start your own firm and at first I was hesitant, [but then] he said, no you will go a long way serving the underserved. He [made me] think about who were people who could benefit from the type of law I wanted to practice and that’s when I knew it was small business owners for me,” Rosezena explained.
Now, after years of trial and error and coming into her passion for trademark law, Rosezena is setting the groundwork for longevity and success for Black entrepreneurs. From representing reality tv star and founder of Money Monster Academy, Sierra Gates to working with rapper and record producer, Twista.
Pierce is taking in all her experiences and investing her resources back into the community with her initiative, to secure the brand movement. A platform that aims to change the way small business owners understand ownership by providing language to strategy.
“Education is important, especially for our community. I always say an educated entrepreneur is a successful entrepreneur, but what is even more important is that we own the platforms that we are speaking from because that is where our profit comes from. As a creator, when you start to provide services and products with your name attached to it that is when it becomes a brand. That is when it is time to protect it,” said Pierce.
Currently, Pierce is ranked as one of the top 50 trademark firms (#37) out of over 33,000 trademark attorneys in the country, filing well over 3,500 trademarks to date.