Holds a master’s degree in international relations from New York University, and an undergraduate degree in business and marketing. With Wagner Graduate School for Public Service, she studied international health policies and prospects at the World Health Organization in Geneva Switzerland, and conflict and development in The Netherlands. She has tenure in the biotechnology industry, as well as extensive non-profit experience. While executive director of Life Through Dance, Inc, she received the New York Foundation for the Arts’ Emerging Leader Award, and spearheaded the documentary film INTO SUNLIGHT, which explores how a non-fiction book about war and protest, inspired a dance-work that profoundly impacted audiences world wide. Her articles have appeared in the African Anthropologist, published by the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, and the World Policy Institute’s Arts-Policy Nexus Publication.