Makala earned her J.D. in 2022 from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law where she was the president of the Black Law Students Association (Fall 2020 – Spring 2021), as well as case note and comment editor for the Loyola Law Review Editorial Board (Fall 2021-Spring 2022). She served as an education law research assistant for Professor Robert Garda, co-authoring a chapter for a textbook entitled Special Education for All. Makala also conducted research for Professor Mitchell Crusto on methods to improve diversity in the legal profession. She received an M.S. in Political Science with an International Relations minor from the University Nebraska of Omaha. While enrolled at the University, she was a part of the European Affairs Master’s degree program at the University of Lille during a semester abroad. She earned a B.S. in Political Science with a Foreign and National Security Affairs minor from the University of Nebraska in 2017.
Before joining Gordon Arata, Makala was a summer associate for Baker Donelson, and a law clerk at Citizen SHE United, where she conducted legal and legislative research and developing and presenting training. During her time as a law clerk, Makala published and co-authored several articles for various platforms including Bloomberg Law. In 2021, Makala became Citizen SHE’s director of programming and operations where she helped create and lead a fellowship of 12 African American Women-led-and-focused non-profit organizations, with the purpose of increasing civic engagement and understanding across the state. She was previously a policy and advocacy intern at the Women’s Center for Advancement in Omaha and also worked as a policy intern at Child Care Aware of America in Arlington, Virginia, researching legislation and authoring op-ed pieces for the company blog.