Work Experience

The School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, New York, NY

• Lecturer

• Spring 2023

• Teach self-designed, graduate-level course: Intro to Text Analysis in Python

The CUNY Graduate Center, Data for Public Good Fellowship, Remote                                  

• Principal Investigator                                                                                                

• 2023 - current

• Recipient of $12,000 grant to lead a team of five doctoral students in political science.

• Project goals: 

  • Computationally transform 10K+ written public testimonial PDF files submitted to the New York City Districting Commission during the 2022 redistricting process into a publicly-accessible database, using the Python programming language.

  • Resulting database will include rows corresponding to a specific testimony and columns storing variables related to ethnicity, race, language, neighborhood, district, geocode, Dropbox link, and any other relevant category.

  • Create a website in Python where visitors can make data requests either by downloading the entire database as a CSV file or filtering by variable(s).

The Center for Urban Research at the CUNY Graduate Center, Remote

• Data Analyst                                                                                                                

• 2022 - current

• Collaborate with team of 6, led by Dr. John Mollenkopf, to analyze information in public testimony and offer recommendations to the New York City Districting Commission.

• Automate in Python the download the 10K+ testimonial PDF files from the New York City Districting Commission (NYCDC) website and create a fully searchable, compiled testimonial document.

• Automate in Python the development of an index matching page numbers in the compiled document to keywords based on ethnic origin, race, language, defined by the American Community Survey, religion as self-reported on the 2020 Census, and New York City neighborhoods, compiled by the NYCData portal from the Weissman Center for International Business at Baruch College, CUNY.

The CUNY Graduate Center Digital Institute, Remote

• Digital Fellow                                                                                                             

• 2021 - current

• Competitive fellowship. 

• Collaborate with a team of 8 doctoral students across disciplines, in developing and teaching digital skills workshops for the CUNY-wide community. 

• Teach Intro to Python; Python for data collection, analysis, and visualization; Intro to R and R studio.

• Lead Python User Group, a bi-weekly informal Python study group. 

• Oversee GCDI and Digital Fellows social media channels.

• Run one-on-one consultations with students and faculty who need help problem solving a research question with a digital component.

The American Council of Learned Societies, Remote

• Research Consultant (Short-term, part-time)

• April 2021 - September 2021

• Provide research support for the ACLS's Design Workshop for New Academy series.

• The workshop consists of a series of conversations and convenings with the aim of identifying the most pressing challenges facing the humanities and social sciences, and to design and circulate concrete, collaborative approaches to address them.

City University of New York, Baruch College, New York, NY

• Adjunct Faculty

• August 2019 - August 2021

• Teach intro-level, American government courses at Baruch College. Three sections in the Fall semester and two sections in the Spring semester.

• Create course syllabus 

• Adapted course content to an online format during the Spring 2020 semester. 

• 99.1% of respondents to student evaluations agree course creates an environment that fostered learning

• 98% of respondents to student evaluations agree course is organized and content is delivered clearly

McPherson Strategies, Remote

• Account Executive

• June 2017 – April 2020

• Project-manager and client-lead across six accounts, including Tiffany & Co., Digital Undivided, NARAL, G Adventures, and Participant Media,, all of which renewed their contracts

• Developed client-specific project strategies (communications, press, social media, podcasts, and events)

• Drafted Op-Eds and reports on behalf of clients

• Produced podcasts (e.g., Money Stories with LDT)

• Managed client social media accounts, on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

• Developed competitive analysis and market research to position clients versus their competitors

• Pitched media outlets and speaking events on behalf of clients

Speakable, LLC , New York, NY

• Managing Editor

• June 2016 – June 2017

• Founding member of Speakable, a technology and activism company. Launched editorial and communications strategy, including developing brand voice, building audience for product, and social media channels

• Grew user engagement of tech product by 600% over 6 months. Worked closely with product development team to fine tune conversion rates of product

• Worked closely with editorial teams at major news publications like Huffington Post, The Guardian, and Vice to align editorial calendars around social impact campaigns

• Managed NGO clients, including selling product, managing communications, sharing data, updating petitions, and supporting donations. Developed campaigns to feature across news content with Amnesty International, International Rescue Committee, Lonely Whale Foundation, and more

Institute For Social And Economic Research And Policy, Columbia University, Remote

• Research Assistant

• February 2015 – May 2016 

• Democracy and energy policy research working with Professor Johannes Urpelainen at Columbia University

• Built pioneering database coding for variables relating to electricity privatization reform across nations to address their impact on democratic institutions

• Built pioneering database coding for variables relating on policies and institutions seeking to improve rural access to electricity across nations

Istanbul Policy Center , Istanbul, Turkey

• Research Assistant

• June 2015 - August 2015 

• Completed climate change and urbanization policy research internship with Senior Scholar Ümit Şahin and Mercator Fellow Ethemcan Turhan

• Researched democratic and ecological externalities of coal extraction and production, focusing on import of coal from Colombia to Turkey. Wrote literature review on democratic deficit of coal.

PolicyLink, New York, NY

• Graduate writer and researcher

• March 2015 - June 2015 

• Paid internship – researching and writing for Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder and CEO of PolicyLink

• Reported stories in long-form article about how investments in equitable policies produce long-term broad benefits for society as a whole

• “The Curb Cut Effect” article published in Stanford Social Innovation Review Winter 2017 issue

Saber Partners Financial Advising, Remote

• Research Analyst & Communications Director

• March 2011 - June 2014 

• Wrote, researched and edited supporting materials for expert witness testimony on auction rate security market

• Participated in project with SEC, analyzing auction rate security market in both private and municipal markets, to determine if there was systematic fraudulent activity. Used Bloomberg, EDGAR, and EMMA for research 

• As Project Manager and Editor, helped maintain version control of RFP documents during editing process

• Responsible for marketing materials, web content and communications 

The Council On Foreign Relations, New York, NY

• Latin American Studies Research Intern

• Summer 2010 

• Latin American studies internship with Dr. Shannon K O’Neil and Dora Beszterczey 

• Assisted with research for Dr. O’Neil’s book Intimate Stranger

• Researched effects of NAFTA on Mexican-American security relations 

• Researched Brazil’s emerging green market and its significance for region

• Assisted with team expense reports and travel support

The Brookings Institution , Washington, D.C.      

• Foreign Policy Research Intern                                                                                                                               

• Summer 2009

• Foreign Policy and counter-narcotics internship with Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown

• Reported daily on policy and security developments in India and Pakistan

• Translated news articles on narcotics in Colombia and Mexico from Spanish to English

• Researched articles on illicit trade and logging of timber and non-timber forest products in South East Asia  

• Edited and proofread reports