Background

I graduated from Irvington High School as the Salutatorian, amongst other accolades. Driven by curiosity about the disparities people of color face in higher education and personal family struggles, I applied for and was granted a full-ride scholarship to Vassar College with the help of SEEDS — Access Changes Everything and Questbridge.

At Vassar College, I developed my skills in three different disciplines. My curious nature predisposed me to the realm of biomedical research, where, during my first year, I began conducting chemistry research under the guidance of Dr. Teresa Garrett. From then on, I continued scientific research, ranging from microbiology research to therapeutics development at Rutgers University, and completed my senior year studies under Dr. Krystle McLaughlin, working on characterizing a specific family of conjugative plasmids in Staphylococcus aureus.

Yet, as I advanced academically, I kept returning to the foundational questions that inspired my college journey—particularly around belonging, identity, and educational access for marginalized communities. As I confronted my own experiences with imposter syndrome, I turned toward educational studies, where I began reimagining how research could be a tool for equity and transformation. I became a research and teaching assistant in the Department of Education, working closely with Dr. Kimberly Williams-Brown and deepening my training in qualitative inquiry and classroom structure, management, and engagement.

In parallel, my history coursework allowed me to explore the colonial entanglements that continue to shape life in the Caribbean. I focused specifically on Jamaica’s relationship to British imperialism, examining how colonial legacies persist in educational systems, migration patterns, and identity formation across the Afro-Caribbean diaspora. This historical grounding helped me make critical connections between past and present systems of racial domination and continues to inform my approach to educational research.

Through this multidisciplinary path, I developed a rich and versatile skill set grounded in liberal arts learning and a commitment to community-engaged scholarship. I remain driven by a desire to produce research that bridges the gap between academia and Black and Brown communities, develops sustainable solutions, and contributes to the collective welfare and dignity of historically marginalized groups.