I'm from rural Southern Virginia, having grown up in a low-class family. As the first in my bio-fam to go on to not only college but to now nearly finish a PhD, I feel especially attuned to helping low-class folks gain access to higher education in ways that don't replicate the long-standing history of having systemically blocked them out. Moreover, I am openly queer and am attentive to the ways that educational spaces have been a complicated site for queer students as both havens and hells. Therefore, I love working with all students but especially queer and low-class students in helping them navigate a terrain that was simply not built for them. At base, I'm passionate about helping students get the educational resources they need to succeed while also addressing the historical power involved in their access to that knowledge.

My education has taken me from a double Bachelors in French and Spanish Languages and Literatures at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va. all the way to the University of Washington-Seattle for a Masters in Comparative Literature and now a PhD in Comparative Literature, Cinema, and Media.

In terms of what I teach and tutor, my experience and expertise are varied. I generally teach undergraduates and adult learners; however, I'm interested in working with younger students. While I have taught and still love to teach French and Spanish language at various levels, my specialty is really working with cultural production (literary and filmic) and its relationship to the development of racial capitalism. In other words, I look at how cultural products have been critical sites of both resistance for minoritized folks and tools for those in power. Representation, after all, is so crucial to how one conceives of a group of people, their histories, and their struggles. Perhaps my favorite thing to teach is literary and filmic analysis as I love critically reading, watching, and analyzing narrative works. French and Spanish language are a definite second, because understanding another language helps to see how your own shapes your reality and has also been used to gain power.

Apart from my nerdiness in academia, I'm a huge social butterfly and all-around extrovert! I love being social with folks, either out a restaurant, bar, gathering etc. I love a good joke and well-timed, witty punextra points for great roasts. I also enjoy cooking, rpg video games on my PS4, and mainly quality time with those around me.