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My mom is a farmer’s daughter; my dad danced on Soul Train. As a biracial graduate student from the South Side of Chicago, I am a product of them both. Like my dad, who attended a PBI, I attended an HBCU, and my primary research involves HBCUs. Like my mom, who attended community college to become an occupational therapy practitioner, I serve as a course director in Duke’s Occupational Therapy Doctorate program; my secondary research involves environmental justice. Being equally rooted in Duke’s Divinity School (ThD), Graduate School (AAAS Certificate), and School of Medicine (OTD), I find Duke University to be, at its core, praxis-based and interdisciplinary. I have seen both at work in Kenan Institute’s “Race and the Professions” fellowship program, which explored racial justice across vocational identities. Both are also central to the work of the Racial Equity Advisory Council, which I have had the honor of serving.
I applied to be a Young Trustee because I am committed to institutions that form me. At each of my alma maters, I returned to serve after graduation. Being embedded within the graduate, professional, and medical schools, my interest in serving the broad interests of Duke is personal and experiential. Given my experience on various boards as secretary, treasurer, vice president, president, and chairperson, I hope my background and perspective might make me a good trustee. I learned how important it is to function as a steward of an organization after establishing two 501(c)3’s that live on after me.