Both my artistic and scientific practice are rooted in identity. 

My career as a scientist developed alongside my passion for the creative and performing arts, and the sea continued to be my muse. I have taken an interdisciplinary approach to learning about the marine environment. My classes in biology, anthropology, education, economics, policy, chemistry, and sociology have given me the foundation to consider how people interact with and value the sea. It became more and more obvious to me that all aspects of our world are connected to the ocean. Life depends on it. 

I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, hundreds of miles away from the coast. I was fascinated by the ocean because of my lack of access to it. I went to the beach twice as a child, once before I could walk, and again at the age of six. My mom and I traveled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where I finally got to begin my hands-on, feet-wet journey as a marine scientist. There, I learned about seine net surveys and turtle nesting sites from state park rangers.  Something clicked for me during that vacation. So, I went back to Ohio and obsessed over all things marine, from coral reefs to plastic pollution. 

Eventually, I became the first in my family to go to college, receiving the Morehead-Cain Scholarship to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At UNC, I integrated my interests and learned about topics like conservation biology, social justice education, and the fundamentals of computer science. As a Gates Millennium Scholar, I was also able to pursue graduate school, earning a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University. Entanglement, my major project, consisted of community co-creation events and a collaborative zine. Entanglement provided the first opportunity for me to explicitly use my art for science communication and education. The early stages of my doctoral research have focused on using multimedia, autoethnography, and arts-based research to communicate science.