About

I am a PhD candidate in the Development Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

My research interests include gender, empowerment discourse, women’s economic participation, and international development. My dissertation project is focused on understanding the motivations and decision-making practices of women entrepreneurs who run small-medium sized businesses in Uganda and Ethiopia. I am also the lead Research Associate for an 18-month longitudinal study of Ethiopian women entrepreneurs for the World Bank.

My graduate experience includes quantitative and qualitative methods training and Luganda language study at an advanced level. I have been awarded numerous Summer and Academic Year FLAS awards, a US Student Fulbright to Uganda and the Willets Award for Excellence in the Social Sciences.

Before coming to Madison, I worked in the international development sector, including time at Ashoka, Uganda Crafts, and the Interfaith Youth Core. I earned a Bachelor’s degree with honors from Northwestern University in Social Policy, and a Master’s degree in Gender, Globalization, and Rights from the National University of Ireland, Galway as a George J. Mitchell Scholar.

When my nose isn’t in my laptop, my eyes are in a viewfinder, a set of binoculars, or a cookbook.