Bio

I grew up in Florida in a small town with dirt roads and a chain of lakes nestled between two major theme park complexes. I attended undergrad at Stetson University where I earned my BA in Sociology and Religious Studies, with a minor focus in Anthropology. In my undergrad I had the opportunity to work for the small social research center, hold an internship with the City Manager, and spend a summer semester doing an archaeology field dig through Southern Utah University. I also completed my senior thesis, “Virtual Churches: An Exploratory Study on Religious Community and Ritual”, in order to explore whether a sense of community could be felt in a virtual environment that was equivalent to that felt in a physical environment.

During my college career I had become fascinated by the topic of community- how does one build community? What makes a community succeed? What causes a community to fail? I was also distinctly aware of the ways interactions in communities were swiftly changing due to the accessibility of the internet and technology.

After graduating I moved to Seattle, WA to take part in a year of service through the Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC) where I worked as a trainer and program coordinator for Lutheran Peace Fellowship and conducted workshops and trainings nationally, mainly with youth and young adult groups on non-violent social action and change. Since finishing my year of service I started a career in fundraising and had the opportunity to work for a variety of organizations including a children’s relief nursery and cancer research center. In the most recent iteration of my career I have been working in an administrative capacity for organizations that provide training to the mental health workforce.

Though I abandoned the idea of pursuing research and higher education directly after undergrad my tendency to observe communities and how they operate has never stopped. I’ve spent many years making observations and pursing ideas of how our social interactions are shaped. For 2-3 years I was involved in the formation of intentional communities. From there I became interested in the concepts of how access to food and healthy nutrition can impact communities and the “success” or “failure” of the individual members becoming especially interested in the concepts of Permaculture and the interconnections of nature and how society mirrors these systems.

While watching the world evolve as technology becomes ever more pervasive, my work in public service has developed my operational, administrative, and strategic thinking skills. At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center I focused on process and systems improvement and increased my knowledge about how professional scientific research is conducted. Subsequently at Behavioral Tech, I have focused on strategic planning, management and coaching, and problem solving while seeing first-hand how the results of research are disseminated. Most recently, my work has brought me to the University of Washington, working to translate research into training and technical assistance activities for the Pacific Northwest at the Northwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center. All of these professional experiences have developed my aptitude for systems thinking and led me to reconsider if there may be a place for me in the academic and research community.

When I am not working or developing my skills as a sociologist I enjoy hiking, working in my garden, listening to music and attending concerts, and spending time with my husband and two cats.