YOUNG INFLUENTIALS 2020 Time and time again, members of the under-40 group in Jackson demonstrate just how successful Mississippians can be with a little ambition, creativity and perseverance. Take a look at this year’s Young Influentials crew.
Calyn Stringfellow
John Lassiter
Analyse Mullican
September 30 - October 13, 2020 • jfp.ms
Helping hand
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Analyse Mullican never imagined that she would be a notary public. The Mississippi College graduate completed a degree in homeland security in May 2019 before going on to law school. However, after her first semester, Mullican realized that path was not for her. She started work as a paralegal at Danks, Miller & Cory in March shortly before the statewide quarantine descended. Identifying as a helper by nature, Mullican finds satisfaction in helping clients in her current role. “A lot of my identity is really tied into trying to be a resource,” she says. “That’s what drives me more than anything.” This personal policy led Mullican
to offer her services as a notary for Hinds County absentee ballots for free, which she announced on her Instagram story in late August. During the last presidential election, Mullican was a freshman in college, so she applied to send a ballot back to her hometown of Pearl. “I felt like I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off,” she recalls, noting that she found the absentee ballot process “overwhelming” with everything else she was juggling at school. “I’ve always had this weird, ingrained passion for the betterment of the people here,” Mullican says, citing that
John Lassiter, 39, recalls being a student at Mississippi College when Mississippi held a referendum to replace the state flag in 2001. He says he felt disheartened when the vote passed against changing it. “I became pretty frustrated by that,” he says. Lassiter graduated with bachelor’s degrees in English and history and became an attorney. A lifelong Mississippian and lifelong fan of college baseball, Lassiter has worked at Burr & Forman for 14 years and is presently a partner with the firm. In December 2019, the state flag still loomed in Lassiter’s mind. Noticing a correlation between the controversial emblem on the state flag and young people leaving the state, he concluded that Mississippi needed a symbol for all its citizens, so he made a cold call to the NCAA. The threat of losing college baseball regionals over the state flag, Lassiter reasoned, “would really cause an economic and social impact that would be felt by the lawmakers,” Lassiter says. From January to June, Lassiter worked with the NCAA to expand its 2001 policy that banned championships and tournaments in states that fly the Confederate flag. “We were calling it Operation Flag-Drop,” he says with a laugh. He drafted a statement, and 31 current and former student athletes, including Lindsey Hunter, signed it. In May and June, the social consciousness catalyzed by the death of George Floyd and many others revived the effort to get the Mississippi Legislature to bring the flag down. Gov. Tate Reeves signed the bill on June 30. Lassiter says he is thrilled to have joined the multitudes working to change the flag. “(That day was) one of the most fulfilling days of my life and career, because it was just an idea. … The state flag to me was a very simple issue. It had to come down,” he says. —Kyle Hamrick
courtesy John Lassiter
When Calyn Stringfellow turned 18, she drove herself to the Hinds County Courthouse to register to vote. “I knew it was something I had to do,” Stringfellow says. “My grandmother worked in voter registration in Jackson in the ’70s and ’80s, and (voting) was embedded in me as a child.” Her grandmother, Elizabeth Moore, was not the only member of her family to emphasize the importance of politics and civic responsibility. “We always talked politics in my house,” Stringfellow says of her upbringing. “I know you can’t do that with everyone, but we were always told, ‘This is your right; this is your opinion, and you vote how you
choose—as long as you vote.’” She participated in her first local election the fall following her July birthday, and she heeded her parents’ advice at the federal level for the first time during the ObamaRomney election of 2012. “I knew if I didn’t vote, I would have had to come home and deal with my grandmother,” Stringfellow quips. The youngest of Moore’s 36 grandchildren, Stringfellow kept the activist’s legacy alive by organizing a voter-registration drive earlier this year, at which she registered 10 people to vote. “I was beating myself up about the low number,” the Jackson State University graduate recalls. “But I had people who helped me realize that even one person counted.” With millennials surpassing baby boomers as the largest eligible voting bloc in the country, Stringfellow considers every vote from the younger generation to bear significance, she says. “I feel that if we all voted, the change would be so phenomenal. It would be bigger than what one could even fathom. We could implement so much change if we voted on what mattered to us,” the 25-yearold concludes. —Taylor McKay Hathorn
agent of change
courtesy Analyse Mullican
courtesy Calyn Stringfellow
Voting advocate
mindset as the reason why she wants to help college students and others in the Hinds County area complete their absentee ballots. Because she understands how unfamiliar and stressful the process can be, Mullican wants to do what she can to
guide those she assists. “I’m just here to help,” she concludes. To get in touch with Mullican for help notarizing absentee ballots, email analysemullican@gmail.com. —Kyle Hamrick
