About Me

My Story

Much of who I am today as a scholar and person is informed by my career background and the incredible people who guided me here. Long before starting my graduate studies, I committed my career to building community. My first official job in community organizing involved serving as a board member at the Chester County Fund for Women and Girls. Through that experience, I was able to see the impact that occurs when a diverse group of passionate women use their collective knowledge, experience, and intelligence to foster mission-driven financial stewardship. Through my two years in various positions with the Fund, I had the privilege to help allocate $450,000 to nonprofit organizations serving vulnerable women and girls and to organize the first national girls-grantmaking conference. 

This experience lit a fire within me that led me to attain a B.S. in Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship and a B.S. in Community, Environment, and Development from the Pennsylvania State University's Schreyer Honors College. As I merged my interests in business and social issues, I subsequently worked at nonprofit organizations throughout the Greater Philadelphia region, including the Chester County Economic Development Council, Operation Finance Network, and a local environmental law firm. Throughout this time, I also became heavily involved in researching invasive animals management in Australia. I specifically studied how academics in Australia worked with stakeholders from a variety of competing interests to successfully manage invasive animal species. Although the technical solutions to invasive animals management are simple and straightforward, the human side is far messier. Thus, thanks to the guiding of my academic mentors, I believe that much of our intractable societal problems are human issues that require not only technological innovation but also social innovation. 

I subsequently worked in communications consulting, seeing firsthand how interpersonal dynamics affect organizations and employees. Even with a myriad of communication technologies at our disposal, the interpersonal dynamics of communication, including trust, justice, and ethics, remain the most impactful yet complex. Following my growing interest in academia, I shifted gears to write a book, Growing Community: A Penn State Extension Story, about the challenges and opportunities of engaging in the work of Cooperative Extension in urban areas. Together with my colleagues, we engaged in participatory research, storytelling workshops, and qualitative research to use stories as a basis for organizational reflection and change. I also served as an independent grant evaluator for a nonprofit in Philadelphia to conduct focus groups, interviews, survey analysis, and document review to present feedback and recommendations to the funder and the organization's board of directors. 

Finally, before starting my PhD, I managed research operations at the Criminal Justice Research Center at Penn State Abington. In that role, I led a storytelling awareness campaign and community events to eliminate the stigma of opioid use disorder and reduce barriers to treatments. Managing a staff of 12 researchers, I often traveled throughout the state to conduct grant-funded research on perception change, drug distribution networks, medically assisted treatment, and the overdose crisis broadly. Through countless conversations with people with lived experience with substance use disorder, I gained a new appreciation for the importance of work in psychological and physical wellbeing as many people explained that meaningful work (or at least work where they felt competent, confident, or supported) was impactful in entering and maintaining sobriety. 

These prior work experiences share a common thread: navigating interpersonal dynamics and psychological factors to address organizational and societal issues. I have translated this thread into my research on relationships and psychological needs in the workplace with a heavy focus on addressing the loneliness epidemic, employee wellbeing, and diversity and inclusion at work. I also translate these interests into my love for teaching. I prioritize creating experiential learning opportunities and I approach teaching as an act of connection in which I facilitate opportunities for students to connect with theoretical and applied material, with each other, with their inner selves, and with their individual and collective futures. As a final personal note, underlying every part of my career story is my faith and relationship with God and the incredible encouragement and support of loved ones and mentors.