DEWNYA BAKRI-BAZZI, CHIPMAN CLASS, 2011
Dewnya Bakri-Bazzi As a founding member of Dearborn, Michigan’s At Law Group, Dewnya Bakri-Bazzi’s (Chipman Class, 2011) journey into law began as a child and included influences from her family and faith. Raised in Dearborn by parents who both came to the U.S. from Lebanon during their childhood, Bakri-Bazzi was, by age six, laser-focused on becoming an attorney. “My parents have always called me the lawyer in the family,” said Bakri-Bazzi. “I used to defend my older sister and my parents would say ‘she is the older sister, sit back and let her do the talking,’ but I never did.” Her parents instilled the value of education and hard work into her and her siblings. Her father and mother did not finish college but instead chose to marry at the ages of 20 and 18, respectively, and move to Dearborn. Her father worked in restaurants and gas stations and through his hard work and dedication was eventually able to take over ownership of several gas stations in the Dearborn community. Her parents even began distributing coffee to restaurants and gas stations in southeast Michigan under the Caffina Coffee brand, a successful business today with more then 400 accounts. “My parents were so gung-ho,” said Bakri-Bazzi. “If I could tell you the one thing that was etched into our brains it was ‘go get an education, go to school, don’t waver, make up your mind on what you want to do and go for it.’ I think it is because my parents weren’t able to finish college, and they knew the struggles they went through to build a successful business in order to provide for us.”
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