Vanessa Kelly

Vanessa is a lawyer, disability advocate, speaker, and writer who practices narrative advocacy in the belief that sharing the stories is a change catalyst.

Vanessa is a corporate lawyer and senior counsel in-house at a global investment bank. Her practice ranges from advising on private debt and equity transactions, broker-dealer and securities regulation, municipal offerings, and restructuring and bankruptcy. Throughout her career, she has also held compliance, business selection/conflicts, and chief operating officer roles.

Deaf since birth, Vanessa serves in several disability-related leadership roles. She is the co-head of her employer’s Disability Network, where she creates educational programming and training, participates in disability recruiting initiatives, and implements disability-inclusive policies and procedures. Vanessa serves on the Hearing Loss Association of America New York chapter Board of Directors where she is also an active chapter member and featured speaker. She mentors professionals with disabilities and was recently selected to be a mentor in the Lime Connect Foundation Program for Young Professionals. Vanessa is a regular panelist and speaker at corporate and non-profit disability-related events. She served on the faculty for the Practicing Law Institute’s Diversity & Inclusion in Law Practice 2022 symposium. Vanessa has been featured on NPR and in other media publications. She is currently featured in the Center for Hearing and Communication and NYU’s Cochlear Implant Center’s marketing campaigns.