Biography
I am an interdisciplinary scholar whose work connects three distinct fields within the humanities: religious studies, gender studies and digital humanities. I received my Ph.D. in Religious Studies in August 2023 from Claremont Graduate University, where I specialized in Religion and Gender and Religions of North America, with a focus on Christianities. I bring an intersectional approach which allows me to explore the ways in which things like race and gender not only shape the lives of individuals, but also how they experience and perform their religion. I have trained in oral history and ethnography as these qualitative research methods enable me to center the lived experiences of women, who are too often the objects rather than subjects of religious narratives.
• Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA — Ph.D,. Religious Studies - Dissertation: “The Aesthetics of Amiability: Performing Gender in Mormon and Evangelical Online Spaces”
• Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA — MA: Women’s Studies in Religion - Master’s thesis: “Talking and Not Talking: Sexual Education and Ethics for Young Women within the Evangelical Movement in America”
• Simpson University, Redding, CA — BA, Theology (Minor: English)
• Religions of North America
• Religion and Gender
• Digital Humanities
• Oral History
• Mormonism
• New Religious Movements
• Claremont Graduate University Mormon Studies Podcasting Fellowship
• Oral History Center at UC Berkeley, Advanced Summer Institute 2021
Grants
Council of Independent Colleges, Humanities Research for the Public Good Program
I was the Project Administrator for a Digital Preservation grant for the 2024-2025 academic year wherein I supervise 2-3 student research assistants to digitize the archives of the Schauffler College, a now-closed women’s college which served primarily immigrant women in the Cleveland, OH area. This project is of great significance for multiple academic fields as well as for lay scholars or those interested in public history or genealogy. The archive contains valuable context for understanding the history of higher education in Ohio, the immigrant experience in America, and the challenges (and successes) of American women in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Heartland Conference of the United Church of Christ, Designated Partners Grant
I was the Co-Administrator for two grants, one for the 2023-2024 academic year and one for the 2024-2025 academic year to coordinate and oversee a month-long series of events in honor of Women’s History month.
• Member of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Mormon Studies Steering Committee, 2025-2028
IN THE MEDIA
Public scholarship and interviews
• "The rebellious wives creating a crisis for the Mormon church" by Josie Ensor, September 14, 2024, The Sunday Times of London
• "‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ and the swinging sex scandal, explained" by María Luisa Paúl, September 7, 2024, The Washington Post
• "Here’s what’s behind the fascination with the ‘Mormon mom TikTok’ blowup" by Palak Jayswal, June 23, 2022, The Salt Lake Tribune