About Me

I live in sunny Southern California where I’m an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Writing Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I research and write about Evangelical purity culture, a passion that grew from my experiences being raised within a religious cult that was a part of the purity movement. I also offer coaching for people interested in healing religious trauma and revitalizing what is sacred in your life.

My co-edited collection (with Dr. Mari Ramler), Purity Culture, Bodies and Beliefs: Stories of Religious Trauma, is now available for purchase anywhere you buy books. This book focuses on embodied experiences of religious trauma and the many paths available for healing.

I earned my PhD at Clemson University in 2021. My dissertation, Altared Bodies: Evangelical Purity Rhetorics in the Age of Sexual Politics, won the Victor J. Vitanza Outstanding RCID Dissertation award in April 2022 and was one of three finalists for the Religious Communication Association’s Top Dissertation award in 2022.

I have recent scholarship in Constellations; Theology and Sexuality; Intraspection: A Journal of Rhetoric, Culture and Style; Canopy Forum; as well as several edited collections. I am also working on a book about purity culture that blends stories, history, and research to offer readers insight for healing. My research, teaching, and coaching continue to evolve from my investments in building just, equitable, and communal frameworks for embodied life.