Laurie Parise

Laurie Parise is the Managing Director of The Animation Project, Inc., in New York, NY. With thirty years of entrepreneurial experience, Laurie works alongside many animators on the company’s staff and within the industry to teach animation to young people in underserved communities. The organization aims to assist young people living in the seven neighborhoods in New York City with the highest incarceration rates so that they are less likely to fall into those rates. Prior to her leadership position, Laurie was a Nonprofit Consultant within The Animation Project, Inc., who ensured that the organization was well-equipped to handle urgent social challenges through her services.

As a highly educated individual, Laurie Parise is an alumni of Columbia University and Brooklyn Law School. She attended the former for her Bachelor of Arts and graduated in May of 1992, then eventually decided to return to school and put a concentrated effort into law. In May of 2004, Laurie Parise graduated from Brooklyn Law School with her Juris Doctorate and as an honors graduate—she was part of the Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Law Fellowship and was awarded the Brooklyn Law School Pro-Bono Student Award in 2003 and 2004. 

Following graduation, Laurie Parise continued to become part of fellowships and be a recipient of awards and other honors. She was a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School from 2012 to 2013, the first recipient of the Martindale Hubbell/LexisNexis Legal Innovation Fellowship in 2006, and the Equal Justice Works Public Interest Law Fellowship from 2004 to 2006. From 2006 to 2008, Laurie was an Echoing Green Fellow for Emerging Social Entrepreneurs, and during that time, she founded Youth Represent.

Youth Represent is a youth defense, reentry, and policy organization in New York, NY, that Laurie Parise founded in September 2006. For over ten years, Laurie worked as both the organization’s Founder and Executive Director while the group represented young people 24 and younger in New York City with comprehensive criminal and civil legal services. She created the organization’s award-winning community lawyering fee for service model and eventually expanded the organization to cover all five boroughs in New York City through partnering with community-based organizations and government agencies. She also spoke nationally on youth justice issues during her time with Youth Represent. 

Social entrepreneurship has been a constant passion of Laurie’s since her years in college. Right before graduating with her undergraduate degree, Laurie Parise was the Executive Director of Rainforest Foundation US in New York, NY. Her position allowed her to direct the international nonprofit Indigenous rights organization while handling an annual budget of over $2 million and a diverse portfolio of program partners. Laurie created the foundation’s Indigenous Legal Program and raised funds that allowed the organization to send the first Guyanese Amerindian to law school. 

Laurie Parise is extremely passionate about workforce development for young people living in underserved neighborhoods and workers’ rights. She acknowledges the diverse thoughts and ideas that young people have to offer several industries and, through her leadership skills, works to ensure that their voices are heard and represented. 

Currently, Laurie Parise is trying to start a voter’s rights organization. Her most recent attempt, Stand Up Stand In, would have volunteers stand in long voting booth lines for disenfranchised people who cannot spend their precious time in line for various reasons. The volunteers would stay in line until there’s a more reasonable waiting time, at which point the voter can step back into place in line. Though new voting laws make this difficult to achieve, Laurie Parise is still looking into states that may allow this option.