LMJ Qualifications
Liana began her career at eight years old working at her father's pharmacy on the Upper West Side of Manhattan; here she developed a deep understanding of prescription and over the counter medications, as well as the complexity of the healthcare industry. At a young age, Liana saw her father navigate bureaucracy on his terms and absorbed the plethora of information he had to give, both in front of and behind the scenes, with the ease of any child. She remained a staple at the pharmacy for ten years, while later also working for renowned Civil Rights Activist, Derrick A. Bell Jr., as a Research Analyst, before heading off to College. While attending Hunter College of the City University of New York, Liana was accepted into an esteemed fellowship and subsequently hired to intern full-time for NYC Council Member Gale A. Brewer at both her Legislative and District offices. Upon her graduation from the fellowship and, consequently, internship, Liana interned for then NYS Assemblyman, now NYS Senator, Brian Kavanagh, where she was instrumental in the creation of his first ever district Health Fair and the redrafting and ultimate passing of the Child Health Plus and School Meals Enrollment Coordination Act of 2011. After receiving her B.A., Summa Cum Laude, she was inducted into the prestigious Academic Honor Society, Phi Beta Kappa, known for members such as the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and numerous U.S. Presidents, including Franklin D. Roosevelt & Barack Obama. Almost immediately following graduation, Liana was recruited by NYS Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver for a position as a Community Liaison; her work as an intern had already garnered her high praise and recognition in political circles as "the constituent whisperer". Never having a penchant for politics, after a few years with the Speaker, Liana sought out the Honorary James D’Auguste, New York State Supreme Court Justice, and was granted an internship with him. Here she gathered immense knowledge on the inner workings of the NYS Unified Court System. This made way to her career as a Paralegal at a heavyweight Civil Rights Law firm where she worked on legal matters pertaining to Civil Rights, Matrimonial, and Entertainment. Ultimately, at the start of the COVID Pandemic, Liana found herself at a small Real Estate, Immigration, Wills, Trusts and Estates Firm where she began working closely with clients and third parties on Medicaid Estate Planning and Trust & Estate Matters. It was at this firm that it became blatantly clear what the world had been showing her throughout her career: she had a specific skill that was desperately needed. Liana could resolve matters in multiple fields because she saw the interconnectedness between all the major influences in our lives (politics, healthcare, the law), and knew how to seamlessly navigate them when they intersected. She was able to make connections others could or did not. No matter where she went, the need for her intricate and familiar knowledge of the healthcare industry followed, as did her passion for advocating for her clients, and seeing that there would never be a holistic approach between healthcare and the law, Liana decided to create one.
LMJ Advocacy & Consulting is a firm created with two simple concepts in mind: The human experience is in dire need of improvement, and our clients never stop being patients. Today, people who are dealing with the healthcare industry find it both daunting and never ending. We’re here to help. With a distinctive set of talents at our disposal, our firm is uniquely qualified to seamlessly navigate the overwhelming nature of the healthcare industry. We ensure that your patient care doesn't end when you leave the doctor's office.
Our Founder's Story
As the daughter of an occupational therapist and pharmacist, Liana has always been a defender of the underdog. At a young age she saw that she had the power to use her strengths to give voice to those who would otherwise go unheard. Her purpose has always been to fight to change the inherently exploitative systems people navigate on a daily basis.
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Liana comes from a long line of political activists, healthcare workers, and pioneers in their field. Having a background in public policy, government,
healthcare, and the legal industry, combined with having spent the last decade and a half being at the nexus of a complex system designed to fail her when she needed it most; she found it all too necessary to create her own firm, one with the sole mission of assisting those in navigating rapacious systems.
Liana grew up watching her father educate his clientele and the doctors who prescribed them medication on everything from the importance of preventative care to insurance premiums. To her, her father’s most impressive quality isn’t his Congressional Award, television appearances, newspaper articles or guest appearances; it's that his ethics remain unparalleled. Understanding that everyone deserves the opportunity to make informed decisions was only one of the invaluable lessons she learned while growing up and eventually working in his pharmacy.
As a child, Liana watched her mother, an occupational therapist for the then Board of Education, maximize the potential for her students’ independence by making special modifications to wheelchairs to fit their specific needs, modifications the insurance companies would not provide. Due to her expertise, she was constantly courted by the bureaucrats, yet her mother consistently turned down administrative positions that paid exponentially more as they required her to spend less time actually helping her students and more time doing paperwork; a sacrifice she was not willing to make. Witnessing her parents constantly stand up for what they believed in regardless of the seemingly insurmountable pressure against them were impressions that propelled Liana exponentially ahead of her peers.
Empathy, integrity, understanding the intricate nature of insurance companies, office cultures, and recognizing people's needs became intertwined with Liana's sense of self. Occupational Therapy wasn't a job for her mother, it was a calling. Pharmacy isn't a job for her father, it's his calling. Advocacy and consulting isn't a job for Liana, it's her calling.