Hazel Johnson KCPAO Women in Leadership
This Women’s History Month, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is highlighting some of the depth and breadth of women leaders in our office as part of our “Women in Leadership” series. These profiles are only a few of the many amazing women in our office.
How long have you worked at the PAO?
I’ve worked at the PAO going on six years now.
What is your role in the PAO?
I’m the Special Assault Unit (SAU) and trial support paralegal for the Juvenile Division. I help with vertical prosecution on SAU cases — prefiling through post-conviction — and I support our attorneys through both SAU and mainstream trials.
When I first joined the office, I was hired into a central processing role and worked there for about a year and a half before moving to my current role. I was doing work for every courthouse at that point and was introduced to a lot of the different types of work that we do, including providing coverage for paralegals in ITA Court at Harborview when needed. I think I will always miss being a part of central processing team and the work they do though — they’re such a great team.
The Juvenile Division — and Juvenile Court as a whole — has a progressive approach with several diversion and treatment programs to try to look closely at each case to see what the most meaningful intervention might be. We have people from many different walks of life at juvie, and I find it makes staffing cases and conversation in general much more robust.
What were you doing before coming to the PAO?
I was working for myself. I ran a small business contracting with different companies to provide them transcription services. I did a lot of work for a well-known local startup. A lot of the time it was Human Resources interviews with employees as sort of a pulse check, CEO interviews for publication, and various research projects for some universities.
It’s kind of ironic given the circumstances we find ourselves in today, but the shine of working from home wore off, especially in transcription which is such a solitary thing. As a “good morning person” who goes around and pokes my head into people’s offices to say hello first thing, I missed having coworkers and the office environment. I think a lot of folks may be feeling that these days.
What are some of your goals in regards to the work you do?
Part of the reason that I wanted to make the transition from word processing to more of an active support role like a paralegal is I would transcribe a lot of interview of victims and family members of victims, and I would hear their dissatisfaction with systems sprinkled in there throughout their interview: How long cases would take, inefficiencies, victims and their families who felt ignored or forgotten, witnesses who were anxious about being involved. I’ve been through that too. I had someone I lost who went from being a childhood friend of 24 years to just being this headline. And I know there is a lot outside of my control and that I cannot change a lot of the circumstances that bring people to our office, so my goals are to be a public servant that is reachable, reliable, and who will take the time to walk through concerns with the public we are here to serve.
It’s sort of cliché — I can’t always give folks the answers that they want, but I can do my best to make sure they know what’s going on. So I guess part of my goal is, with the system that we currently have, to make it run as efficiently and effectively as possible. I don’t want to be that stereotype of being the person you’re never able to get on the phone. Instead, how can we better serve the community that we’re here to serve, because I don’t think that’s the experience that a lot of people get from governmental entities.
What sort of obstacles have you faced in your field? What was it like dealing with those?
There’s so much intersectionality in my life. I’ve always lived in such a convergence of different worlds, and that feeling continues today with the work that I do. It can feel like a double-edged sword sometimes. On the one hand, I navigate different spaces comfortably; on the other hand, I thought being in one space meant I had to keep the other separate and almost hidden. I now know that’s not true and that lived experience is one of the most valuable things we can bring with us and share in any space we hold.
In addition to my work at the PAO, I co-chair the Board of Directors for the Pacific Islander Community Association, a local Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) nonprofit organization, and I’m part of the National NHPI Policy Council. I see leaders, both young and older, who are coming into their power and fighting for our community to be seen and uplifted. It’s inherently challenging as a Pacific Islander since our statistics are often coupled with Asian Americans in the “API” or “Asian Pacific Islander” category, which is troubling and leads to the erasure of both strengths and challenges our communities face. The movement to separate the categories continues, but I have never had better teammates and know we’ll get there.
I think at the end of the day “leadership” looks different depending on who you ask, but lived experience informs everything. We should share that more, as hard as it can be to be vulnerable enough to do so.
What advice would you give to other women who are considering a similar career path?
I hate to be cliché but: Persist. There will be setbacks and experiences that make you feel unseen, unheard, and unappreciated; it’s important to remember almost all of us will feel this at some point and even that can be a strength. It’s crucial to be your own advocate and to find allies, accomplices, and teammates that you have things in common with and who are completely different from you. Realize the value of your lived experience and the lived experiences of others and be generous in affording the time and opportunity to honor those experiences. This is how we foster community, a sense of belonging and really show up for others as leaders.
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Catch up with the entire KCPAO Women in Leadership series on our blog at kcprosecutor.medium.com.
