Swain has worked as a community organizer and attorney partnering with the NAACP to advance voting rights throughout North Carolina. Swain graduated from Duke Law in 2012 and received a Skadden Fellowship to provide legal support to grassroots organizations in North Carolina that work with at-risk youth to enforce their constitutional right to a quality education. She has also worked for the Advancement Project, a Washington, D.C.-based policy and legal organization that facilitates community-based racial justice initiatives. Swain has also partnered with Advocates for Children’s Services, a statewide project of Legal Aid of North Carolina, and the NAACP to target the systemic under-education of poor students of color, which sustains the “school-to-prison” pipeline.