Resume

I was raised in the Butchertown neighborhood of Louisville KY. Not a product of means by any stretch, a culmination of hard work and luck has allowed me to graduate from some of the best educational institutions available and gain worldwide recognition for my work in glass sculpture, culture collecting and archiving, music and film production, large scale event planning and community education.

I obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Berea College in May 2015, with a Major concentration in Popular Culture and a Minor in Communication. In August of 2021 I completed a Master's degree in Popular Culture and a Graduate Certificate in Public History from Bowling Green State University (BGSU) and entered the BGSU PhD program in American Cultural Studies that same year. This will be the culmination of over 20 years experience culture archiving, preservation, and production. Since 2000 I have collected, produced, and released over 50 regional music collections under the name ​Louisville is for Lovers​. These collections have been included in public and private archives including the Louisville Free Public Library, the University of Louisville Music Archive, Berea College Sound Archive, and Western Kentucky University Archive, and has been delivered around the world to 6 continents including Antarctica. Additionally, I have studied film and photography for 3 years at the University of Louisville and Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois.

I have also produced special audio programming for both radio and podcasts including programming for NPR affiliate WFPK in Louisville, Ky, and the BBC World Service. From 2011-2015, I worked as a Sound Archive Associate and audio engineer archiving audio files, creating educational guides & curriculum, and producing audio Educational podcasts on regional and historical music, including a 5 hour multi-chaptered podcast on Appalachian folk music called ​Celebrated Sounds​.

I continually collaborate with creative professionals toward cultural archiving including my work at the Bowling Green State University Browne Popular Culture Library, and the Center for Archival Collections, were I have created many physical and digital exhibits and learning guides including a 9 stop audio walking tour of historically significant events and locations. I have also created the Northwest Ohio Independent Culture Archive that has a collection of hundreds of regional music fliers, histories, and ephemera of the greater Northwest Ohio region. Other projects include a 38 slide digital exhibit covering over 50 years of women in the political spotlight featuring 120 items from the Browne Popular Culture Library collection, as well as an hour long lecture on the collection for the National First Ladies Library. In the summer of 2013, I paired with Magnolia Photobooth on a grant from Berea College on a 3,000 mile archival tour of the southern Appalachian region, documenting subcultures through a Photographic collection called ​Portrait Of Appalachia​. In the summer of 2014, I worked with Guestroom Records in Louisville, KY to capture music and release compilation albums in 3 distinct genres (Hip Hop, Pop, and Roots) music in the city. Some of these collections are also in private and public archives including the Berea College Archive and the Louisville Free Public Library. 

After 2 decades working on archiving and education in culture in various mediums including Audio Collections, documentary films, still photograph collections, radio and podcast programs, and print formats, I continue chasing my passion for culture collection, archiving and education. I currently work as a teaching Associate at BGSU, and have taught courses in history, film, sociology, and media production. In the summer of 2024 I taught in the Upward Bound program at the University of Toledo. The culmination of the semester was a completed 14 track album, music video, and a documentary of the project, all created by the students.

Academic Degrees

 

Ph.D. American Cultural Studies [In Progress] Bowling Green State University.

Expected May 2026

 

M.A. in Popular Culture.  Bowling Green State University, August 2021

 

Graduate Certificate in Public History, Bowling Green State University, August 2021

Internship: National First Ladies’ Library

 

B.A. in Popular Culture, Communications Minor. Berea College, May 2015

 

Employment and Professional Positions

 

Teaching Instructor University of Toledo Upward Bound Program 2024

·  Responsible for designing all aspects of the classes, including course material,

lesson plans, leading class discussions, creating and grading assignments, and administering tests.

Courses include Sociology and Media Production.

 

Teaching Associate American Cultural Studies, Bowling Green State University 2023 – Current

·  Responsible for teaching undergraduate classes in the humanities. Responsibilities include

leading class discussions, grading assignments, administering tests, and developing lesson plans.

Classes include Intro to Film, Modern World History, History of Drugs and Alcohol.

 

Media Assistant Preservation Lab, Center for Archival Collections, Bowling Green State University 2023-2024

·  Responsible for collections preservation including preparing and creating custom containers.

·  Responsible for preserving collections including antique documents, microfilming, scanning

and creating OCR digital copies.

·  Responsible for creating and installing physical exhibits.

 

Graduate Research Assistant Browne Popular Culture Library, Bowling Green State University 2019 – 2023

·  Responsible for archiving, accessioning and deaccessioning items.

·  In charge of donation processing and donor relations.

·  Responsible for digitization, cataloging, metadata creation using:

Excel, Dublin Core, Omeka, Photoshop, ABBYY FineReader, ArchiveSpace, others

·  Responsible for department’s social media campaigns as well as community workshops,

events, and tours.

·  Supervisor of student employees, oversee training, day-to-day schedules and special projects.

·  Created over 25 physical and digital exhibits based on our collections, as well as informative

videos and audio walking tours.

·  Coordinated exhibits and talks with other museums and libraries with a focus on student and

community involvement including assisting researchers.

·  Helped other organizations with perseveration of physical items in realia collection.

 

 

Art Instructor StudioWorks by Zoom Group

 Louisville, Kentucky 2018-2019

·  Instructed neuroatypical adults with vocational skills for creating artwork sold

in the Studioworks Gallery.

·  Assisted in exhibit installation and event planning.

 

Associate Archivist Berea College Special Collections and Archives, Hutchins Library

 Berea College 2011 - 2015

·  Worked as an audio engineer for the Sound Archives.

·  Responsible for restoring, digitizing and archiving historical recordings on many legacy formats.

·  In charge of researching, creating metadata, writing biographies, and creating educational programs

with the content.

·  Duties included field work photographing, recording, and documenting cultural traditions of

Appalachian heritage.

·  Created digital and physical exhibits based on the field work holdings.

·  Produced video documentaries about regional culture, including a documentary on pinball culture

in Kentucky, and a 5-hour audio podcast on the history of Appalachian Music.

 

Director and Founder of Louisville Is For Lovers. 2000-2021

·  Responsible for all aspects of collecting regional music and culture, working with thousands of artists,

releasing over 45 albums, responsible for organizing over 100 events in ranges from 50 attendees to 45,000

attendees.

·  Responsible for layout and design, sound engineering, and promotional projects.

 

Visiting Director of Asterisk Art Gallery, Brooklyn New York. 2004

·  One year appointment overseeing all aspects of the gallery including exhibit curation, event planning,

sales, and artist relations.

Preparator, Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation (now known as the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft) 2000-2002

        prepared artwork for display in the museum under the director of the curator.

Co-Director/Curator of 953 Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky, 1999-2002

·  Oversaw every detail of the gallery from curation of the exhibits, organizing events, sales, donations,

and artist relations.

 

Assistant Student Director, University of Louisville Gallery, Louisville Kentucky, 1996-1999

·  Through a Federal grant I primarily worked as preparator under the director in installing exhibits,

framing and preservation, patron tours, and artist relations.

 

 

Invited Lectures and Presentations

 

“The Criminalization of the Poor in the Southeastern United States”

 Melungeon Heritage Association Annual Conference

Hillsborough, North Carolina, 2024

 

“The cultural significance of the film Back to the Future,”

Classic Movie Night, Hancock Historical Museum, Findlay, Ohio, 2023

 

“Representations of Women in Political Realia at the Browne Popular Culture Library”

Virtual History Series, Wood County Museum, Ohio (virtual), 2021

 

“Female Representations in Political Pins 1976-2016” National First Ladies’ Library, Canton, Ohio (virtual), 2020

 

“On Sight: Literal and Figurative” Berea College, Berea Kentucky, 2018

 

“On Regional Music Collecting” International Association for the Study of Popular Music, Louisville, Kentucky, 2015

 

Awards and Grants

 

Lois Jean Steel Stiffler Scholarship. Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, 2023-2024

 

Cleveland Humanities Collaborative Summer Faculty Seminar participant. Case Western Reserve. Cleveland, Ohio. 2023.

 

Graduate Student Employee of the Year Award. Friends of the Library. Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, 2022

 

School of Cultural and Critical Studies Stoddard-O’Neill Grant, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, 2022

 

Department of Popular Culture Stoddard-O’Neill Grant, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, 2020 (Interrupted by quarantine)

 

Berea College Research Grant, Berea Kentucky, 2013

 

Early Times Grant for Further Artistic Education, Louisville Kentucky, 2002

 

Residences

Artist in Residence, Louisville Free Public Library, Louisville, Kentucky, 2018

·  Created hands on art classes for the community as well as educational demonstrations of glass art techniques.

Artist in Residence, Brown Hotel, Louisville, Kentucky, 2004

·  Educational demonstrations of art glass techniques.  Finished work displayed in hotel.

 

Artist in Residence, Bernheim Forest and Arboretum, Bardstown, Kentucky, 2003

Created Glass sculptures to be placed in the forest to promote community engagement.

Invited Artist, Guggenheim Museum, Venice Italy, 2002

·  Tasked with interacting with visitors and photographing culture at and in the area around

the museum as well as at the Biennale.

 

Service

 

Founding Co-President, Ray Browne Association on Class and Culture, Bowling Green StateUniversity, 2024-2025

·  Responsible for managing staff, overseeing operating budgets, grant writing, working

with donors, vendors, and University Administration.

Co-President, Popular Culture Scholars’ Association, Bowling Green State University, 2023-2024

·  Responsible for managing staff, overseeing operating budgets, grant writing, working

with donors, vendors, and University Administration.

 

Committee Chair, Founder, and Co-Organizer for the Bowling Green State University Class Conference, 2022-2024

·  Responsible for programing the event with over 30 presenters, over 100 guests and vendors.

Developing website and PR materials, creating merchandise, staying on budget and developing

a sustainable strategic plan.

 

Area Chair on Class, Midwest Popular Culture Association and Midwest American Culture Association, 2021-2023

 

Executive Planning Committee Member for the Popular Culture Scholars’ Association Annual Ray Browne Conference on Critical and Cultural

Studies, 2020-2021

 

Panel Chair on Politics at the Midwest Popular Culture Association and Midwest American Culture Association, 2020

 

Member of the Prophetic Council at the Poor People's Campaign, National Organization, 2018 – Current

 

Publication

 

Contributing author, the Soulful Sounds of Derbytown, a history on Black entertainers in Louisville, Kentucky. Butler Books. 2024

 

Professional Memberships

Kentucky Council on Archives, Melungeon Heritage Association, Midwest Archives Council,

Poor People’s Campaign, Popular Culture Association, Popular Culture Scholars’ Association,

Ray Browne Association on Class and Culture, Society of American Archivists 

View Selected Projects Here

Teaching art instruction at Louisville Free Public Library