Personal Bio

I was born in Kingston, Jamaica, raised in New Jersey, and lived in New York for seven years before moving to Chapel Hill, NC for (more) graduate school. I consider myself essentially a Jamaican New Yorker at heart despite decades marooned in Cambridge and Boston, Mass and several NJ and now North Carolina suburbs too obscure to mention.

I am currently a second-year PhD student at UNC- Chapel Hill's School of Journalism and Mass Communication. My research interests include political communication and media effects, especially the impact of mass media on the political process, of new technologies on political psychology and participation, and of media on democracy in developing nations.

Prior to becoming a UNC student, I worked in advertising and marketing consulting for seven years, focusing primarily on interactive and direct marketing. Most recently I was an Account Supervisor in the New York City office of Digitas, where I worked with clients on interactive strategy and execution and with senior management on new business development with the goal of broadening and diversifying the client roster. Before that, I worked as an assistant producer at Cambridge Digital Media, producing web sites and CD-ROMS and for the public affairs Jamaican talk show, the Breakfast Club. My areas of interest include communication effects and political communication.

Outside of school and work, I am passionate about books, Jamaica, politics, media (ok - it overlaps with work), and the visual arts. An avid art and film lover, I served on the Studio Museum in Harlem Contemporary Friends Steering Committee and on the 2003 Film Festival Screening Committee for GenArt, a non-profit organization, which promotes new, emerging artists in film, fashion and the visual arts. I also served as President of the Jamaican American service organization JAMPACT in 2003.

Education

Phd student in Political communication and public opinion, UNC-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

M.S. 1999, TV and Radio Management, Brooklyn College.

B.A. 1991, English and American Literature, Harvard College.