Tonette "Toni" Jaramilla

Jaramilla has been fighting in the trenches of the #MeToo movement.

"It really emboldened and encouraged women to come forward and seek legal advice at least in order to see what their rights are," she said.

The Los-Angeles based attorney regularly takes on hostile and aggressive Fortune 100 corporations, billionaire sexual predators and other powerful entities accused of abusing their authority.

Jaramilla recently represented a young, African American woman in a lawsuit against a restaurant in which her client was fired for wearing an ethnic hairstyle called Senegalese twists. The woman refused to change her hairstyle because she argued the company's grooming policy was discriminatory.

Although Jaramilla said it has been slightly easier to get witnesses to come forward because there is less of a stigma around the issue now, no other employees at the restaurant were willing to cooperate to back up her client's claims. So she set out to get the evidence herself.

Jaramilla went to the restaurant and took photos of another employee whose "hair was a hot mess" and was not disciplined by management. When presented with the evidence, the restaurant agreed to eliminate references to ethnic styles from their training materials and to improve their anti-discrimination training.

"These hairstyles are an expression of cultural identity," she said. "The public and people still impute stereotypes on various cultures."

Jaramilla said she has seen an uptick in litigation against school districts and universities for alleged gender and race discrimination. She recently won a trial against the Los Angeles Unified School District on behalf of a Latino attorney who was denied a promotion because he complained of discrimination at the school district.

As a daughter of immigrants from the Philippines, Jaramilla said her background has helped her understand nuanced issues which may not seem facially discriminatory. She has taken on leadership roles in various organizations, including the Philippine American Bar Association and the Foundation for Advocacy Inclusion and Resources.

-- Winston Cho