EDUCATION
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (UWM), Department of African and African Diaspora Studies, 2021
M.A. California State University (CSU), Dominguez Hills, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2011
M.Ed. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, 2007
B.A. California State University, Dominguez Hills, 2006
Majors: Language and Linguistics and Public Administration
Certifications
2021 Women’s and Gender Studies, UWM
2011 Conflict Analysis and Resolution, CSU, Dominguez Hills
2011 Rhetoric and Composition, CSU, Dominguez Hills
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, University of NC-Charlotte (2020-2021)
Associate Lecturer. Race, Gender, and Social Movements
Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, UWM (2017)
Associate Lecturer. Black Feminisms: Black Women as Laborers, Leaders, and Lovers
Department of African and African Diaspora Studies, UWM (2011-2018)
Instructor. Black Reality: Survey of African-American Society
Teaching Assistant. Introduction to African American History, 1865 to the Present
Instructor. Survey of African American Literature (Online)
Instructor. The Black Woman in America, Africa, and the Caribbean (Online)
Department of Africana Studies, CSU-Dominguez Hills (2009-2011)
Teaching Assistant. Introduction to Africana Studies
PUBLICATIONS
Book Reviews:
Review of Making all Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the 21st Century by Barbara Ransby, (University of California Press, 2018) in Resources for Gender and Women's Studies: A Feminist Review, vol. 41, nos. 1-2, Winter-Spring 2020, pp. 11-12.
Review of Reproductive Justice: A New Vision for the 21st Century by Lorretta J. Ross and Rickie Solinger, (University of California Press, 2017) in Resources for Gender and Women's Studies: A Feminist Review, vol. 39, nos. 3-4, Summer-Fall 2018, pp. 29-30.
Public Scholarship:
2020 “To the White LGBTQ Community: Your (Racist) Slip is Showing,” Colorlines, June 29, 2020
2020 ‘The Joy of Being: Notes on the Academy From a Black Woman,” The Faculty Publication, June 12, 2020
2020 “MamaHood and Community Healing: A Q&A w/ Ruth Jeannoel,” MomsRising.org, May 28, 2020
2020 “The Pleasure Gospel of Jill Scott and Erykah Badu,” Medium, May 27, 2020
2020 “Everyone Loves Someone Who Had an Abortion: The Ms. Q&A with Eveline Shen and Yamani Hernandez,” Ms. Magazine, January 27, 2020
2019 “Black Friday: A Special Rite of Passage with My Black Family,” The Root, November 29, 2019
2019 “We Dream a World: Black and Queer in Milwaukee,” The Root, June 27, 2019
2016 “Milwaukee Officials: Black Youth, Single Mothers Are Not Responsible for Systemic Failures-You Are,” Rewire.News,
August 17, 2016
2016 “Auntie Conversations: Black Women Talk Sex, Self-Care, and Illness,” Rewire.News, July 12, 2016
2016 “‘Overworked and Underpaid’: On Organizing, Black Womanhood, and Self-Care," Rewire.News, April 15, 2016
2015 “Journey to Me: How I Came Out to Myself and Embraced All of Me,” For Harriet, July 3, 2015
2015 “And Let Your Dreams Save You,” This Bridge Called Our Health, June 3, 2015
In Progress:
“The Making of a Black Feminist: Self-Care, Activism, and Academe”
INVITED LECTURES
2019 "'To Touch and To Unify:’ What Toni Cade Bambara Taught Us,” The Women’s Research and Resource Center, Toni Cade
Bambara Scholar-Activism Conference, Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia
2019 "#InterviewBlackWomen: Stories and Lessons by Black Women Activists,” The Women’s Center, DePaul University,
Chicago, Illinois
2016 "Calling In, Calling Out and Loving Fiercely: The Community Making of Toni Cade Bambara,” Toni Cade Bambara
Scholars/Writers/Activists Program, Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia
SELECTED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
INTERNATIONAL
Panels Co-Organized:
2016 "Building Transnational Alliances across the Intersections of Black Feminist, Queer, and Immigrant Movements to
Transcend Borders,” Association of Women’s Rights in Development, Black Feminisms Forum, Bahia, Brazil
NATIONAL
Panels Co-Organized:
2020 "Black Feminist Epistemology, Research and Field Work,” (Panel session canceled) National Council for Black Studies,
Fields and Functions of Africana Studies: Mapping Terrains of Research, Teaching, and Resistance, Atlanta, Georgia
2018 "Envisioning Our Collective Feminist Futures: Black Feminism, Mothers, Activists and Girls,” National Women’s Studies
Association, Just Imagine. Imagining Justice: Feminist Visions of Freedom, Dream Making and the Radical Politics of
Futures, Atlanta, Georgia
2015 "Reproductive Justice and You: Campus and Community Battle the Precarity of Women’s Personhood,” National Women's
Studies Association, Precarity, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Papers Presented:
2020 "Black Women’s Activism: Popularity and Possibilities of Self-Care,” University of North Carolina, Africana Studies
Department and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program Symposium, Imagining Futures: Black Girls and Women at
the Intersections, Charlotte, North Carolina (Conference canceled)
2020 "Making the Revolution Irresistible and Sustainable: Autoethnography and Activism,” (Panel session canceled) National
Council for Black Studies, Fields and Functions of Africana Studies: Mapping Terrains of Research, Teaching and
Resistance, Atlanta, Georgia
2019 "To Purge the Poison: Black Feminist Revolutionary Rage as Healing Praxis,” National Women’s Studies Association,
Protest, Justice, and Transnational Organizing, San Francisco, California
2018 "Self-Care is Resistance: Black Women Activists as Radical Imaginaries,” National Women’s Studies Association, Just
Imagine. Imagining Justice: Feminist Visions of Freedom, Dream Making and the Radical Politics of Futures
Atlanta Georgia
2018 "Every day is War: Black Women Activists Choose Resistance and Care,” Association for the Study of African American
Life and History, African Americans in Times of War, Indianapolis, Indiana
2018 "Black Women in Defense of their Wellness: Activism and Community,” Black Women for Wellness, Power Forward
Conference, Los Angeles, California
2016 "Voicing Pain, Voicing Resistance: The Media Making of the Third World Women’s Alliance,” National Council for Black
Studies, Charlotte, North Carolina
2015 "A Mandate for Reproductive Justice Leaders on Campus,” National Women’s Studies Association, Precarity, Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
2014 "Black Women’s Activism: A Space of Their Own,” Association for the Study of African American Life and History,
Memphis, Tennessee
Moderator:
2019 "#ArchiveBlackWomen: Preservation and Access to Black Women’s Stories,” National Women’s Studies Association.
Protest, Justice, and Transnational Organizing, San Francisco, California
2018 "Building a Movement through Pleasure and Healing,” Civil Liberties and Public Policy, 32nd Annual Conference, From
Abortion Rights to Social Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom, Amherst, Massachusetts
2016 "Black Lives Matter with Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors,” Distinguished Lecture Series at UWM, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
SERVICE
University Service
2018 Black Feminist Symposium Planning Committee, UWM, Women’s Resource Center
2017 Survivor Support and Victim Advocacy Search Committee, UWM, Norris Health Center
Departmental Service
2014 Visiting Faculty Search Committee, UWM, Department of African and African Diaspora Studies
Community Service
2020 9to5, National Board Co-Chair
2019-2020 9to5, National Board Co-Secretary
2015-2020 Echoing Ida, Program Fellow
2018 9to5, National Executive Director Search Committee
2016 African American Roundtable, Co-Chair, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2015 The Ms. Foundation for Women, Public Voices Fellow
HONORS AND AWARDS
2020 Casey O’Brien Outstanding Activist Award, UWM, Women’s and Gender Studies
2018 Women of Color Leadership Project, National Women’s Studies Association
2018 Tennessen Anniversary Scholarship, Center for 21st Century Studies, UWM
2018 Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice Fellow, Rockwood Leadership Institute
2014 Chancellor’s Graduate Student Award, UWM, Graduate School
2012 The George W. and Winston A. Van Horne Award for the most outstanding graduate oral and written comprehensive
examination, UWM, Department of African and African Diaspora Studies
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2018 Graduate Project Coordinator, Women’s Resource Center, UW-Milwaukee
2017 Interim Executive Director, New Voices for Reproductive Justice, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2015 Director, Reproductive Justice Collective Project, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2013 Facilitator, Diverse and Resilient, Acceptance Journeys Project, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Association for the Study of African American Life and History
Black Women’s Studies Association
Coordinating Council for Women in History
National Council for Black Studies
National Women’s Studies Association