I was born in Virginia and grew up in the Washington, DC metro area, attending Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia. While at Mary Washington I began my work on the Garifuna communities in Belize, defending my honors thesis and graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography in 2001.

Over the course of the next three years, I was employed in the Species Conservation Division of Defenders of Wildlife in Washington, DC.

In August 2004, I entered graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin to begin work on a master’s degree in the Department of Geography and the Environment with a focus on cultural geography, specifically the construction, representation and performance of race and ethnicity. I continued my work on the Garifuna, culminating with my thesis, Reconstructing Identity: Representational Strategies in the Garifuna Community of Dangriga, Belize.

Currently, I am continuing my work in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Texas. I am researching the cultural history of the jaguar in the United States, and I recently completed  my certificate in Nonprofit and Philanthropic Studies from the LBJ School of Public Policy.

I have taught courses concerning conservation, the envrionment, nature, and animals on both The University of Texas- Austin and The University of Texas- San Antonio campuses.

My dissertation research project, tentatively titled Encountering El Tigre: Jaguars and People in the United States has been supported by The Smithsonian Institution, The Social Science Research Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and a number of other organizations and foundations.

In my free time I enjoy traveling, film, hiking, and spending time with our cats.