Considering herself shy and sheltered as a young girl, Deborah Platt Majoras likely wouldn’t have believed anyone who told her she would one day sit at the helm of the legal department of a major corporation (The Procter & Gamble Co.)–or even more so, be appointed by the President of the United States to chair the Federal Trade Commission. But that’s exactly where Deborah Platt Majoras’ career has led her.
Attending a small liberal arts college for undergraduate school, Majoras was studying social worker and Spanish, with a concentration on Latin American studies with the intention of building a career helping people. But one of her professors recognized something special about her. One day, when the class was coming to an end, he pulled Majoras aside and said he thought she may be more helpful to people if she could find a way to do it from the top down. “Have you considered law school,” he asked her. At the time, she hadn’t. Later, an internship at the Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund gave her more exposure to the legal world, and she was intrigued. Still, after graduation she moved to Washington, D.C., with her girlfriends, setting the idea of law school aside.
