Puerto Rico native discovers her career niche in the law
In one way or another, attorney Melody Block seems to have lived much of her life jockeying between two worlds.
She describes the experience as “a continuous discovery of the tension and excitement that comes from having one foot in two places at once.”
Born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, Block came to the United States at the age of two after her parents divorced. It wasn’t long after she began school that she realized her life was different from her peers in many ways, not least of those being socio-economic status.
“In terms of identity, I think I’ve always struggled with not feeling American enough but also not Hispanic enough,” says Block. “I was raised by a proud Puerto Rican family but have also had to assimilate into a different culture and reality.”
Her mother came to the United States as a child and grew up in Dover, N.J. The family was part of a larger migration from a small town in northwestern Puerto Rico called Aguada that settled in Dover over a span of decades following World War II. By the 1980s, nearly half of Dover’s Hispanic residents were immigrants from Aguada or their descendants. Block’s mother returned to Puerto Rico when she was married. The couple had four daughters before the marriage ended.
When Block’s mother came back to Dover with her children, she worked cleaning homes for a contractor who built mansions in Morris County. Block remembers accompanying her mother to the newly built homes to prepare them for the buyers to move in.
“It was a significant experience for me,” she says. “Despite living humbly, I was exposed to a lot of wealth, and I was introduced to successful and ambitious people. It was a unique window into another world.”
Block, who is 13 years younger than her next oldest sister, inherited a role of responsibility at an early age as the only member of her family who spoke English as a first language. She is also the first among her family to pursue higher education, and she is certainly the first lawyer. She knows that life in mainland United States presented her with far more opportunities than her sisters had, but she says her sisters were tremendous supporters of her education and advancement.
They worked to give her access to resources they did not have – everything from advocating for her to attend private schools, to facilitating her attendance at leadership conferences in other states and Europe, to driving her to visit colleges.
“It took a village to raise me,” she says. “All of my mom’s family participated too. My grandmother contributed, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins too. I had five different people picking me up from school on any given week.”
It wasn’t always easy having so many eyes and ears tuned to her, but looking back on it now, Block realizes “how special it is that so many people had a hand in my success."
She describes the experience as “a continuous discovery of the tension and excitement that comes from having one foot in two places at once.”
Born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, Block came to the United States at the age of two after her parents divorced. It wasn’t long after she began school that she realized her life was different from her peers in many ways, not least of those being socio-economic status.
“In terms of identity, I think I’ve always struggled with not feeling American enough but also not Hispanic enough,” says Block. “I was raised by a proud Puerto Rican family but have also had to assimilate into a different culture and reality.”
Her mother came to the United States as a child and grew up in Dover, N.J. The family was part of a larger migration from a small town in northwestern Puerto Rico called Aguada that settled in Dover over a span of decades following World War II. By the 1980s, nearly half of Dover’s Hispanic residents were immigrants from Aguada or their descendants. Block’s mother returned to Puerto Rico when she was married. The couple had four daughters before the marriage ended.
When Block’s mother came back to Dover with her children, she worked cleaning homes for a contractor who built mansions in Morris County. Block remembers accompanying her mother to the newly built homes to prepare them for the buyers to move in.
“It was a significant experience for me,” she says. “Despite living humbly, I was exposed to a lot of wealth, and I was introduced to successful and ambitious people. It was a unique window into another world.”
Block, who is 13 years younger than her next oldest sister, inherited a role of responsibility at an early age as the only member of her family who spoke English as a first language. She is also the first among her family to pursue higher education, and she is certainly the first lawyer. She knows that life in mainland United States presented her with far more opportunities than her sisters had, but she says her sisters were tremendous supporters of her education and advancement.
They worked to give her access to resources they did not have – everything from advocating for her to attend private schools, to facilitating her attendance at leadership conferences in other states and Europe, to driving her to visit colleges.
“It took a village to raise me,” she says. “All of my mom’s family participated too. My grandmother contributed, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins too. I had five different people picking me up from school on any given week.”
It wasn’t always easy having so many eyes and ears tuned to her, but looking back on it now, Block realizes “how special it is that so many people had a hand in my success."
Neal D. Moore, III
Christian & Small LLP, Birmingham, Alabama
Christian & Small LLP, Birmingham, Alabama
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