My experience as a community organizer and policy analyst in the reproductive justice field inspired me to become a social work researcher, educator, and advocate. My research focuses on improving family planning access, education, and outcomes among youth. Young people face a lot of big challenges, but my work with and alongside youth is fueled by their resilience, creativity, and unique capacities to transcend their lived experiences and circumstances. I love working on projects that do not actually feel like research, especially ones that ignite youth-led social change through art, prototyping, and storytelling. When I’m not doing this, I love swimming, watching NCAA hoops, and playing trivia with my family. My undergraduate degree is from the University of Virginia (Latin American Studies; Government and Foreign Affairs) and I earned my Masters and PhD in Social Work from the University of Denver. I am an Associate Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, where I am also the RBC Chair in Applied Social Work Research. In addition to co-directing the YWL, I am Co-Director, Social Work Research, with the Contraception and Abortion Research Team (CART-GRAC) based out of the University of British Columbia.