Originally from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, I earned BA’s in French and Francophone Studies, Latin American Studies, and Applied Linguistics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, graduating in 2009. After 2 years as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Madrid, Spain, I spent one semester as adjunct Spanish faculty at Finlandia University before completing an MA in Latin American Studies at Tulane University in New Orleans. My MA thesis analyzed Chile’s mainstream LGBT movement through the lens of hegemonic masculinity, exploring its deployment at three crucial moments in the country’s modern LGBT movement.

At Rice, my dissertation research seeks to expand on my MA research, examining the margins of Chile’s LGBT movement, specifically focusing on the participation and exclusion of trans* people, lesbians, and racial minorities on the periphery of the mainstream movement. More specifically, my work examines how social media is useful both as a tool for activism and as informal archive for trans* people in Chile.

Beyond my PhD work, I also work as a copy editor and occasional translator for Harvard University Press, as well as a digital content editor for Cultural Anthropology. On campus, I am one of the co-coordinators of the Ethnography Studio, and am also an active member of the Ethnographic Film Society, President of the Social Sciences Graduate Student Association, and the Web Content Editor for the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality.