Interview with Madeline Gootman, Class of 2015

Insights from the Classroom into the Working World

By Daniela Aguirre

Professor Essin’s assignment for our Gender and Sexuality Studies Senior Seminar felt like the perfect capstone for a department that has consistently opened my eyes and challenged the way I think. Our project was to interview graduates of Vanderbilt’s Gender and Sexuality Studies (GSS) program, formerly known as Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS). I was both nervous and excited to take it on the assignment because it felt like a final bridge linking my own GSS experience to the world beyond Vanderbilt. It was a chance to see how everything I have studied can take shape in real professional and personal lives. I chose to speak with Madeline Gootman (Class of 2015), a lawyer based in San Diego whose story offered an inspiring look at how the ideas we’ve encountered in GSS translate beyond the classroom and into the working world.

From the beginning of our conversation, Madeline’s clarity and poise stood out to me. She explained that she currently works as a product liability attorney at Perkins Coie and that her path to law began during her undergraduate years at Vanderbilt. She double majored in Political Science and WGS, and the combination provided her with both a strong understanding of political systems and the ability to think critically and creatively. She said that WGS taught her to “see the world differently, not just with a high IQ, but with a high EQ.” That comment stayed with me because it captures the essence of what I have experienced within GSS: an academic space where empathy, emotional intelligence, and intellectual rigor come together.

Madeline told me about a class that ended up changing her life. Coming from a conservative community, she initially enrolled in her first WGS course out of curiosity, wanting to “learn what the other side thought.” Instead, the experience “changed her entire world.” She found language to describe her experiences as a woman, frameworks to understand inequality, and a community that encouraged her to think critically about herself and society. Listening to her, I was reminded of my own first semester in GSS, when I began to understand how the personal is always political, an idea

that continues to shape how I see and engage with the world. Madeline also spoke about her time at Vanderbilt beyond the classroom. She worked at the Women’s Center and was involved in a sorority, and she explained how navigating both spaces at once helped her better understand her own identity. That particular combination of academic and social activity mimics my own, so it was comforting to hear how those different parts of her college life came together productively to shape her sense of self.

Then, I asked Madeline what advice she would give to current students. She paused, then said something that I have not stopped thinking about: “Get off the escalator of life.” She described how she had gone straight from college to law school and then into a big law firm job without ever taking the time to stop and ask herself what she really wanted. She said she wished someone had told her that it is okay to pause and take time to reflect, and figure out where you want to be in the world before rushing into the next step. She continued, “Life doesn’t end at 25 or 30. You don’t have to have it all figured out.” As a senior surrounded by constant conversations about the future, I found her words grounding and necessary. She framed success as self-understanding rather than moving forward quickly or feigning certainty, something that many students who have not taken GSS courses may struggle to recognize.

Talking with Madeline reaffirmed for me the importance of Gender and Sexuality Studies. A GSS education is so much more than the content we learn because we also how we practice how to think and care. Frameworks like intersectionality and feminist ethics teach us to approach the world with both critical awareness and compassion. For Madeline, these lessons have shaped her career in law. They will help me imagine a meaningful future for myself. This conversation reminded me that I am part of a larger community of GSS graduates who carry the same commitments and ways of thinking into many different fields. It was reassuring to see how the ideas that have defined my time at Vanderbilt continue in the lives of others who came before me.