As a child of the 1990s, I've long had a special fondness for clothing, shopping and the media. And it's been these culturally intertwined forces that have driven my professional life.

Currently, I am an assistant professor of journalism and director of the fashion media program at Southern Methodist University. I earned my doctorate in Communication, Culture and Media at Drexel University and also hold a master's in costume studies and visual culture from New York University.

My research looks at the intersection of fashion and consumer culture, especially the cultural narratives that have been shaped and molded by brands. Specifically, I'm interested in mass market retailers, such as Uniqlo, J.C. Penney and especially the Abercrombie & Fitch of the '90s and 2000s, and their influences in popular culture and consumerism.

My recent book The Abercrombie Age: Millennial Aspiration and the Promise of Consumer Culture was published in October 2024 by the University of North Carolina Press. My previous book, Communicating Fashion, publisherd by Bloomsbury in 2021, received the 2022 John G. Cawelti Award for Best Textbook / Primer from the Popular Culture Association. My research has appeared in journals like Journalism Studies,Fashion Theory, The Journal of Popular Culture and Critical Studies in Media Communication.

Professionally, I've been a web producer for various news and magazine websites, and a copy editor and page designer at two newspapers in Northeast Pennsylvania.