I was born, raised, and did my undergraduate studies in Canada (hence the accent) before making my way to the UK in early 2008. Between then and my return to academic life, I worked in HR services, for a major retail bank, and also spent four years doing media/brand analysis and PR measurement.

In 2014 I completed an MA in Consumption, Culture, & Marketing at Royal Holloway University of London; I received a Distinction for my dissertation on the commodification of science fiction fan culture. I was fortunate to study with some highly regarded scholars from the world of critical marketing, which has gone on to inform my intellectual approach to what I teach.

My PhD, in Sociology/Management, was also carried out at Royal Holloway. Funded by the Leverhulme Trust, I examined how the relationship between parents and children is affected by the use of what I have termed family surveillance products. Think Google Family Link, Life360, Apple's Screen Time, and similar. I am thrilled to have recently had my post-viva corrections approved, and am looking forward to publishing some academic work based on my thesis.

Academically, I am interested in the following topics: marketing, anything to do with consumers (especially consumer culture theory), brands, surveillance studies, sociology of parents and children, fan studies, and the occasional bit of critical theory. I like an informal and interactive classroom, and am known to occasionally lecture in a Jurassic Park t-shirt.