Current
In my current postdoc role at the NSF Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science (CBIKS) at UMass Amherst, I focus on theories and methods of the Indigenous concept braiding knowledges; uniting diverse ways of knowing. This builds on community-engaged ethnographic fieldwork I've conducted in post-conflict settings around the world.

Facilitation & Teaching
I am inspired by the transformative potential of people coming together. I practice this in interdisiplinary settings through inclusive facilitation and experiential teaching, particularly of ethnographic methods. From 2023-2025 I taught anthropology courses at Tulane University, both on campus and through the College-in-Prison Program at a maximum-security women's prison; since, I taught at Clark University's Liberal Arts for Returning Citizens (LARC) program for formerly incarcerated students. Since 2011 I have organized programs abroad in Poland, Cambodia, and India with a focus on engaging with post-conflict healing and reconciliation from diverse perspectives. The pillars of my leadership practice are listening, improvisation, and creativity, relying on community-engaged training, studies as a Deep Listening® Facilitator, and Jacob’s Pillow Curriculum in Motion™ Institute graduate.

Projects

Academic
In addition to my postdoc research, I am working on several projects and presentations that build on my dissertation research exploring Tibetan medicine in exile and ongoing research exploring post-conflict reconciliation and memory in East Central Europe. I co-produce The Open-Hearted MD podcast and facilitate interdisciplinary seminars on the topic for medical students. 

Journalistic
Prior to graduate school, I was a features writer covering topics that moved me, including but not limited to: artifact repatriation, museum exhibitions, graffiti politics, language resurgence, aesthetic beauty (The Economist); supersonic travel, brain donation (The Atlantic); urban photography (ArtAsiaPacific); arts initiatives, reproductive rights, historical memory (Pacific Standard); Jewish arts & culture (Tablet); food studies (Roads & Kingdoms); untangling colonialism (Paste); nostalgic reflections (Protocols); snark (VICE); hotel reviews (Travel Weekly); book reviews (WA Independent Review of Books); international news (The New York Times). Prior to that, I authored travel guidebooks and articles.

Curatorial
Co-curating Wandering the World City: Jan Yoors’ New York Photographs, 1960s in a museum anthropology course inspired my focus on exhibitions. Since, I curated two shows of Brian Ground's work: Mind Maps: Curated Journals 2004-2018 (2018) and Macro Meditations (2021). Chris Givens and I curated Q (2019) at Hotel Peter & Paul as an embodied exploration of the experience of waiting. Catherine Ryan and I co-curated Children of the Streets: Reminiscences of Jan Yoors (2021). Przy Rondzie 6*  is a long-term project and others are in the works.

Education
I completed a PhD in cultural anthropology at Tulane University in 2025, MA in sociocultural anthropology at Columbia University in 2013, and BS in communications (history minor) at Florida International University in 2007. Additional training included a three-month Rotary Peace Fellowship, during which I received a Professional Development Certificate in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution at the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at Chulalongkorn University. I am indebted to many mentors in these formal settings and acknowledge the many teachers elsewhere.

Practices
I practice Deep Listening® as a student and Certified Facilitator. Other practices that impact my work include Buddhist studies, Non-Violent Communication, community engagement, feminist and experimental ethnography, and movement studies, including dance, Radiant Body Yoga (RYT®), Contact Improv, et al. 

Support
My work would not be possible without the support of a number of individuals and institutions. I am indebted to supportive kin; family, friends, ancestors, nature, beings known and unknown. I acknowledge the Fulbright Program, which funded my PhD research in India and MA research in Poland, multiple entities at Tulane University including the Department of Anthropology and Connolly Alexander Institute for Data Science, and the Mellon Graduate Fellowship in Community-Engaged Scholarship. Writing support has been provided by numerous generous supporters including the ByWater Institute's A Studio in the Woods Scholarly Residency, arts residencies at Arts Letters & Numbers, among others.

Services
It is an honor to work with others to support their processes of clear articulation and communication. I am available to support with editing, proofreading, fact-checking, application review, grant writing, project consultation, listening, brainstorming, and beyond.

Maps
I created these maps to support others exploring some of the cities I know most intimately: Kraków, Poland; Dharamsala, India; New Orleans, LA.

* in progress / forthcoming