Vanessa Bryant has had many professional firsts in her long career in Connecticut as an attorney and later a Superior Court and federal judge.

The 66-year-old Avon resident became the first Black woman to be appointed a federal judge in New England in 2007. But before that, Bryant, who credits a lot of her success, tenacity and barrier-breaking to her grandmother Louise Black, was the first Black woman to be an associate at a major Connecticut law firm; the first Black lawyer at Aetna Life & Casualty Co.; and the first Black female Superior Court judge in the state.