All About Me...
I’m a writer, educator, and social worker whose work circles the questions that won’t leave me alone: Who belongs? Who decides? And what happens when those lines shift?
I’ve written three textbooks: Introduction to Human Services: Through the Eyes of Practice Settings, Introduction to Social Work, and Advocacy for Social Justice, along with academic chapters and peer-reviewed articles on migration, diaspora politics, patriarchy, and global policy. My Substack began as a space to explore women and aging, but like most of my work, it kept widening into larger conversations about identity, power, and the stories we inherit about ourselves and the world.
I’m currently working on three books: The Age of Becoming, which examines women and aging through a structural lens, exploring the impacts of patriarchy and social conditioning on women over 50, an academic book on family counseling, and a memoir about an unexpected international chapter of my life that carried consequences far beyond what I anticipated.
My academic path includes an MSW, an MS in Global Policy Studies, and a PhD in Peace Studies. I was a social worker long before I was a professor. Those years in child welfare, hospice, refugee resettlement, mental health, and advocacy shaped how I see the world and grounded my scholarship in lived reality. They also taught me that theory means very little if it cannot hold human complexity.
I love technology. I'm particularly interested in how social media spreads through online networks and influences ideas and behaviors. My dissertation explored how conflict-generated diaspora communities use social media to engage in homeland politics and conflict. I selected this topic because I recognized how social media was being used both positively to empower displaced populations and negatively to continue conflict on a virtual level through the dissemination of harmful propaganda.
I'm also a frequent user of Generative AI (mostly ChatGPT) and am excited to see how this latest technology grows and changes how we communicate. Generative AI has the power to create opportunities—economic, creative, ethical, educational—equipping individuals with increased knowledge and agency. But Generative AI also presents society with challenges. We must ensure technological access and proficiency. And we must find creative ways to implement ethical guardrails that don't lag behind AI's rapid evolution. We also need more female AI programmers who understand that "empathy" is more than telling a user to "slow down" and "take a deep breath."
On a more personal note: I raised one extraordinary son on my own, and he now lives and thrives in Colorado. I live in Laguna Beach, California, with a small toy poodle and an ever-growing stack of (virtual) books. When I’m not writing, I’m reading, painting (canvases, not walls), spending time with friends, weightlifting (a new passion), and running (slowly) on the beach.
I’ve written three textbooks: Introduction to Human Services: Through the Eyes of Practice Settings, Introduction to Social Work, and Advocacy for Social Justice, along with academic chapters and peer-reviewed articles on migration, diaspora politics, patriarchy, and global policy. My Substack began as a space to explore women and aging, but like most of my work, it kept widening into larger conversations about identity, power, and the stories we inherit about ourselves and the world.
I’m currently working on three books: The Age of Becoming, which examines women and aging through a structural lens, exploring the impacts of patriarchy and social conditioning on women over 50, an academic book on family counseling, and a memoir about an unexpected international chapter of my life that carried consequences far beyond what I anticipated.
My academic path includes an MSW, an MS in Global Policy Studies, and a PhD in Peace Studies. I was a social worker long before I was a professor. Those years in child welfare, hospice, refugee resettlement, mental health, and advocacy shaped how I see the world and grounded my scholarship in lived reality. They also taught me that theory means very little if it cannot hold human complexity.
I love technology. I'm particularly interested in how social media spreads through online networks and influences ideas and behaviors. My dissertation explored how conflict-generated diaspora communities use social media to engage in homeland politics and conflict. I selected this topic because I recognized how social media was being used both positively to empower displaced populations and negatively to continue conflict on a virtual level through the dissemination of harmful propaganda.
I'm also a frequent user of Generative AI (mostly ChatGPT) and am excited to see how this latest technology grows and changes how we communicate. Generative AI has the power to create opportunities—economic, creative, ethical, educational—equipping individuals with increased knowledge and agency. But Generative AI also presents society with challenges. We must ensure technological access and proficiency. And we must find creative ways to implement ethical guardrails that don't lag behind AI's rapid evolution. We also need more female AI programmers who understand that "empathy" is more than telling a user to "slow down" and "take a deep breath."
On a more personal note: I raised one extraordinary son on my own, and he now lives and thrives in Colorado. I live in Laguna Beach, California, with a small toy poodle and an ever-growing stack of (virtual) books. When I’m not writing, I’m reading, painting (canvases, not walls), spending time with friends, weightlifting (a new passion), and running (slowly) on the beach.