Prior to moving to New Orleans in 2012, Chris grew up in the Atlanta area and completed an AmeriCorps service year where she served as a reading tutor, after-school program coordinator, and mentor to elementary and middle school-aged children enrolled in Atlanta public schools.
She earned her BA in Social Sciences from Tulane University, graduating cum laude. Before joining the LCCR staff, Chris spent time working as a client advocate at a civil rights law firm, and as a paralegal at a long-standing Louisiana law firm where she gained experience in criminal, civil, personal injury, and mass tort litigation.
Chris maintains her dedication to serving communities by advocating for people directly impacted by the criminal punishment system. She has volunteered over 150 hours with Court Watch NOLA and sits on the board of the FreeDem Foundations. Her commitment to ending carceral punishment strongly informs her work as a staff investigator, where she continues to learn and practice the Spanish language with a focus on legal vocabulary to assist the Spanish-speaking children represented by LCCR
Email: CWagner@lakidsrights.org
