I pride myself on continually learning, trying new things, traveling to new places, working different jobs, meeting new people, sharing knowledge and learning from my mistakes.

Career wise, I’ve cut my teeth producing and editing reality and non-fiction television. I needed to know more than how to produce, and learn how such media culturally operated and I started my academic career. My research on YouTube and the creator space began in 2006 and my published work is framed by media literacy approaches. My pedagogy is informed by ethics, civic engagement and social good.

After my primary television career, I spent some time on archaeological digs documenting the work of a talented team digging on Long Island. I now combine the methods of field work, television theory, deep time, new media and environmental humanities in my pedagogy and curriculum development.

In 2011 I was recruited to Molloy College develop an Internet Studies program that incorporated civic engagement, critical social media studies, and online media production. In 2013, I was hired to found the New Media program, a bachelor of science degree in Communications. Today over two dozen people walk around with that degree I conceptualized. During that time I also designed the brand #MolloyNewMedia, developed content strategies, and refined my knowledge and scholarship to become an expert in digital culture. I also wrote a book on the subject, delivered my research in several countries, developed study abroad programs and won several awards.

The focus of my PhD in Media and Cultural Studies was digital and technical cultures and visual media. I use archaeological frameworks to study nuanced, multi-layered, referential images and trends - we call them memes. My focus on digital culture is determined not by contrast to internet culture, but in the additional study and critique of digital tools, communication technology, making/creating, algorithms and social media.

I now teach at CUNY Queens College in the Media Studies Department teaching undergraduates Social Media, Advertising Aesthetics, and Advertising Inequalities. I also teach Digital Activism in the Masters Program. This is balanced with my work on Digital Void, a collective internet literacies project that produces everything from live shows to podcasts. In a never ending interest in increasing literacies, my aim is to encourage meme literacies (which incorporates digital, tech, and media literacies) and empower people to recognize the shifts in culture as a result of memes and digital culture.

In 2022, I have presented my work at the World Health Organization, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Counter Terrorism division, and at Responsible Tech symposiums. I truly enjoy my work and my goal is to continue to empower creativity through a deeper understanding of visual culture - meaning memes, digital video, social good, media ethics and emergent tech - in new environments.

Full Curriculum Vitae