I am an Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and Musicology in the Irving S. Gilmore School of Music at Western Michigan University where I teach courses in popular music, global music cultures, and western art music. I previously taught at the College of William & Mary. I received my PhD in Musicology from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, where my dissertation received the Alfred Mann Dissertation Award from the Eastman School of Music, and the Susan B. Anthony Dissertation Award from the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies. I also completed a MA in Ethnomusicology at Eastman and a Graduate Certificate in Women and Gender Studies from the Susan B. Anthony Institute. I hold a bachelor’s degree (BM) in Flute Performance as well as an undergraduate specialization in Women, Gender, and Social Justice from Michigan State University. I have published articles on queer identity and women’s music, white rapper Macklemore’s LGBTQ activism, queer resonances in the work of Beyoncé, queer identity in New Orleans bounce music and dance, and queer ludonarrativity in Lil Nas X’s work in the journals American Music, the Journal of the Society for American Music, Popular Music and Society, the Journal of Popular Music Studies, and Popular Culture Studies Journal, respectively. My article, “‘Sissy Style’: Gender, Race, and Sexuality in New Orleans Bounce Dance,” was awarded the 2024 Marcia Herndon Article Award for exceptional ethnomusicological work in gender and sexuality from the Society for Ethnomusicology, while my article on Beyoncé received honorable mention for the 2020 award. My first book, Queer Voices in Hip Hop: Cultures, Communities, and Contemporary Performance (University of Michigan Press 2022) examines the work of queer and trans artists in hip hop. I am currently co-editing a book with Stephanie Jensen-Moulton called “Better Be Good to Me”: American Popular Songs as Domestic Violence Narratives (under contract with University of Michigan Press, Music and Social Justice series). I have served in various roles within the American Musicological Society, the Society for Ethnomusicology, the Society for American Music, and the International Association for the Study of Popular Music – U.S. Branch. I am originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan.