I am a Ph.D. student at the University of Illinois - Urbana/Champaign with a focus on 20th century United States LGBT social movements. My masters thesis (completed in May of 2015 at Western Michigan University) is titled Fighting for Inclusion: The Origins of Gay Liberation at the University of Michigan. I explore the ways in which a gay and lesbian community sought to create institutional acceptance in the early 1970s.

Prior to pursuing my college education, I held a variety of positions in marketing, communications, public relations, and sales. The majority of my career was spent in the music industry, mainly as an in-house talent buyer for national and regional entertainment.

I am currently interested in LGBTQ activism, resistance, and oppression in secondary education between 1955 and 1990.