Bio
As a former professor with a Ph.D. in Media Studies, I've designed curriculum, taught, and published research on advanced technologies, media, and culture. At Thorn, I develop and deliver strategic training programs to improve the safety of global users and help law enforcement agencies combat online child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Beyond my professional role, I host a podcast on data science that helps listeners level up their careers. I volunteer as a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters San Diego and work to support the International Rescue Committee.
I was a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada Doctoral Fellow and recipient of several graduate scholarships at Western University in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies. My dissertation, Communicating Crimes: Covering Gangs in Contemporary Canadian Journalism presented a series of articles that examined the coverage of gangs in Canadian news and the narrative intersections of non-fiction reporting and popular entertainment. I also taught courses on media and culture.
I was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure, and continued to crafted and deliver 5-10 online and in-person courses each year, personally facilitating the learning journeys of 90-120 students.
As I was working on the Google Data Analytics certificate, I also completed the MIT Professional Certificate in Coding, which focused on the MERN stack--MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node.js--and included a capstone project building a full-stack web application that integrated a third-party API. I think coding is a critical skill for data analysts and data scientists, and I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the technical side of data.
I joined the non-profit Thorn as its Instructional Design Manager, where I foster close collaboration with local and federal law enforcement agencies and trust and safety partners spanning over 50 countries to deliver training products encompassing case studies, in-person sessions, and virtual training experiences.