I am currently a Race and Social Justice in Education Postdoctoral Fellow at Rutgers Graduate School of Education. Originally from New Jersey, and proudly educated in a diverse public school system, I spent time in Providence, Rhode Island and Washington DC before moving to Chicago to pursue my doctorate degree.

By integrating my undergraduate studies in Cognitive Neuroscience and Africana Studies at Brown University, I found an interest in education research and school improvement efforts. After graduating and in order to learn more about the current state of education in the United States, I worked as an intern and later a research assistant for The Education Trust. During this time, I was part of a two person team that held focus groups around the country in order to gather the perspectives of Black and Latine teachers—voices rarely heard on education’s national stage.

During my time at the University of Chicago, I participated in research, professional development, and service related to inclusive pedagogy and diversity. I served as a Coordinator for the University of Chicago Race and Pedagogy Working Group for two years. The objectives of this group align with my goals to empower educators to be able to have sometimes difficult and often emotional conversations with their students and my ultimate aim to establish the classroom as a transformational space. This position also granted me a position on the University of Chicago Diversity Advisory Executive Board.

I have served as a Teaching Assistant and instructor of record for the Department of Comparative Human Development as well as the Social Science Core at UChicago. I am also a mentor for several graduate students of color within the Department of Comparative Human Development, in the Social Science Division at UChicago, and participate as a career mentor for undergraduates at Brown University.