I’m a New Orleans–based professor, doctoral researcher, author, journalist, and longtime hip-hop head. I’m currently a Justice Studies PhD candidate at the University of New Orleans, where I created the UNO Community Memory Project, a long-term effort to examine how institutions tell stories about themselves through the construction of historical memory. My work is rooted in a healthy skepticism of “official” histories and a commitment to surfacing the people, experiences, and contradictions those narratives often leave out. I earned a BA in Communication Studies from Loyola Marymount University (2009), an MA in Public Communications from Fordham University (2011), and an MA in Justice Studies from the University of New Orleans (2024).

Before academia (and alongside it), I spent more than a decade working in music journalism and communications. I was the Digital Editor of OffBeat magazine for three years, shaping coverage of New Orleans music and culture while reporting on artists like PJ Morton, Tank and the Bangas, The Soul Rebels, and Trombone Shorty. I’ve written for OffBeat, Genius, Ambrosia For Heads, DJ Booth, and Audiomack, interviewed artists including Rakim and De La Soul, and authored a textbook chapter in Social Justice Nonprofits in the U.S. South. I’m a member of the Recording Academy and currently teach communication courses at the college level.