Karla McKanders is currently pursuing her Masters in Theology at Vanderbilt Divinity School. For the past fourteen years, Karla has worked as an immigration lawyer and a Clinical Professor of Law. She currently directs Immigration Practice Clinic at Vanderbilt University Law School where she, along with her students, provide pro bono legal representation to immigrants on their humanitarian cases before the immigration courts and the Department of Homeland Security. McKanders was a law clerk for Judge Damon J. Keith with the United States federal Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit after earning her law degree at Duke University and her undergraduate degree at Spelman College.