I am currently pursuing my PhD in English at the University of Kansas. I study 20th and 21st century American fiction with a distinct emphasis on African American women writers. While I am passionate about my research, I also love teaching. Since 2019, I have tutored and taught in the subjects of reading, writing, literature, and rhetoric more broadly.

While my favorite subject to teach is literature, my favorite subject to tutor is writing. When I teach a composition course, I am always suprised by how intimidated and anxious students are when it comes to writing and English class in general. I love working with students in this subject because I get to change their negative preconceptions of the writing process, and seeing their face light up when they realize their own potential!

In doing so, I adopt bell hooks's concept of "engaged pedagogy" to help my students realize their power and agency in the classroom. Far too often, writing instructors utilize classrooms as spaces to assert their own authority instead of encouraging students to realize their own. As a result, the classroom transforms into a space of policing and control for students, as opposed to a space of empowerment.