I collaborate with project managers, design colleagues, and stakeholders to deliver end-to-end intuitively designed digital products that increase clients’ satisfaction.

The Calhoun School is a pre-k-12 independent school in the Upper West Side that specializes in progressive education. As an apprentice early childhood educator, I worked directly with my mentor to create a welcoming, creative, and courageous classroom for our 15 four-year-olds.

The Daily Mississippian is a free publication, circulated throughout the university, town, and north Mississippi, and receives tens of thousands of online views each week. I am proud of my work at the DM, where I helped an incredible staff hold our university, local officials, and state leaders accountable. As the opinion editor, I hired and managed 20 or more paid columnists at any given time. I had the responsibility of publishing at least six op-eds per week. At the DM, I used my previous experience to verify sources and edit for AP style, while ensuring all topics are relevant to our community.

As a senior in the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, I was eager to start a new research journey with my undergraduate thesis. Being an avid supporter for public libraries, I was sought to do a social impact assessment of the libraries in the Jackson metro area and to see how white flight has impacted their ability to serve their communities. I conducted qualitative and quantitative research through many hours of interviewing 12 librarians, visiting 10 libraries, pruning through library statistics, and analyzing decades worth of census data. Ultimately, I presented three policy proposals to help Jackson's libraries overcome the negative effects of mass white flight. One of my proudest moments from this work was when my research took an unexpected detour, and I rediscovered some forgotten Mississippi history. In 1936, Leflore County, Mississippi had few roads but many people who lived on the banks of the Yazoo River, far away from the nearest town. Leflore County had a young WPA librarian who believed everyone deserves access to education, so she met them where they were. She converted a river boat into a library and drove up and down the Yazoo River to reach her patrons. The Book Boat Girl, as they called her, has become a source of inspiration for me.

Freshman year, my mentor, an English teacher at Byhalia Middle School, suggested I could volunteer as a literacy tutor at her school. Twice a week, every week, for four years, I made the hour drive north to Byhalia where I solidified my dedication to ensuring that good quality education be accessible to all. As a tutor, I worked one-on-one with students who have an IEP for 7.5 hours each week. I coached in literacy, fluency, and comprehension. To do this, I developed and executed detailed lesson plans each week. I'm proud of the work I was able to do at Byhalia. My students consistently had significant growth in reading standardized tests scores, early all students scored at least “proficient” on standardized reading test after one year of tutoring. Several students have successfully completed their first book under my instruction.

The summer after junior year, I interned with the Deer Creek Promise Community –– an arm of the Delta Health Alliance and partnered with Leland Elementary –– to teach math, ELA, PE, and gardening to a class of 16 easily excited 6th graders. There, I developed classroom management skills, and I had the responsibility to create detailed daily lesson plans under the supervision of a veteran teacher. Our work helped mitigate students’ summer learning loss while mastering new skills required for the next grade level.

As a Distance Learning Facilitator, I helped students learn remotely –– before it was cool. I connected professors with students all over the state via Zoom. When anything with technology did not work, I was the person on call to troubleshoot.

My main responsibility as a CDA was to maintain a safe and inclusive environment in student dormitories, which had between 200 and 1,000 student residents. Additionally, I assisted freshmen residents and their parents with complaints, campus directions, and campus resources. I was often a liaison between the university and its constituents, being the first university representative that folks met. At this job, I mastered customer service and secretarial skills.

As an intern for the Human Rights Campaign, one of my biggest responsibilities was to lobby the City of Oxford for a non-discriminatory ordinance. In this position, I was the liaison between HRC, the university, and concerned business owners and citizens. In that role, I handled correspondence between all parties, and set up meetings. Additionally, I helped HRC lobby our state legislature to pass an LGBTQ+ hate-crime bill.My proudest moment was when I represented HRC at Starkville Mississippi’s first pride parade –– after the city council illegally disapproved the parade’s permit. Ultimately, over 2,500 queer people and allies attended.