About Me

There are lots of ways I could describe myself: cultural strategist, narrative change practitioner, developmental psychologist, researcher. But underneath the jargon, I'm just a lifelong dreamer who believes a better world isn't only possible—it's inevitable. And I bring a unique blend of skills to the metaphorical change-making table: rigorous research training, a knack for translating complexity into clarity, and experience turning insights into action.

I studied psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and later specialized in developmental psychology as a graduate student at the University of Michigan. There, I studied how entertainment media shapes our understanding of the world around us, particularly with regards to social identities like gender, race, sexual orientation, etc.  Over time, I became increasingly disillusioned by the wide gap between producing academic research and seeing it create real change in the world. So I made the totally normal decision to pack up my life and move to L.A. in the hopes that I could play even a small part in shaping stories, not just studying them.

My research philosophy is rooted in concepts like public scholarship (prioritizes sharing research with non-academic audiences), participatory research (prioritizes involving the people affected by an issue as equal partners in the research process), data equity (acknowledges that data can carry historical and systemic prejudices), and data decolonization (questions how data is collected, analyzed, and interpreted and its impact on studied communities). I believe objectivity is a myth, and that scientific research can only move forward by reckoning with its long history of harming the individuals and communities it claims to study.

Over the last decade, I’ve helped dozens of advocacy organizations translate their work into the types of meaningful data and insights needed to fuel strategy and development, and the kind that helps them communicate with funders. I serve on the Board of Directors for the Imagen Foundation, an organization focused on uplifting Latino talent in the entertainment industry. Previously, I served as Associate Director of Research at the Geena Davis Institute and Senior Researcher at The Norman Lear Center, where I co-founded the Pa’lante Latino Representation Initiative.