Sydney Richardson-Gorski was raised in Sacramento, California. She graduated summa cum laude from Menlo College with a B.S. in Marketing and a B.S. in Business with a concentration in Human Resources.

During her undergraduate career, Sydney was a student-athlete and an active member of the community. On campus, she was elected to leadership roles such as the first-ever student Director of DEI and the first Black woman Student Government President. She was the recipient of the Google Cloud Academic All-District award, the NAIA Champion of Character Award, and Menlo College’s highest honor, the Board of Trustee Award. Off-campus, Sydney pursued a variety of work and internship opportunities dedicated to elevating the concerns, voices, and powers of marginalized communities, such as an internship in the California State Capitol and a role advocating for incarcerated youth at the organization, Fresh Lifelines for Youth.
Affirmed in her commitment to the work of systemic change, Sydney moved to Washington DC, and continued to explore ways to best serve her community. She fought for lower pharmaceutical drug prices and the repeal of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; researched, recruited, and contributed to the development of the National Advisory Council on Eliminating the Black-White Wealth Gap and their work in creating a transition plan for the now President of the United States; and served as an integral member of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law’s Election Protection team, supporting the nation’s largest election protection coalition and the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline.

Most recently, Sydney served as the Policy Associate at the Lawyers’ Committee. She worked across projects to advance the organization’s civil rights priorities by leading and coordinating advocacy before federal, state, and local legislative bodies and executive agencies. She comes to Georgetown with an interest in civil rights litigation and policy.