I hold a B.S. in Public Health Nutrition (Health and Society) from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with minors in Sociology and Creative Writing (Fiction). 

I am a Master of Public Policy (MPP) candidate at UC Riverside, where I serve as a Dean's Brand Ambassador for the UCR School of Public Policy. 

My academic focus is on all things social protection policies and programming, from development to evaluation, and how they drive global change. Specifically, I am interested in these things:

a.  The intersection between social programming and philanthropy, especially how peer-to-peer philanthropy and digital donation interact with public service delivery gaps. 

b. Programming impact on outcomes such as vote-buying, citizen re-orientation, civic participation, health (mental and physical biomarkers), and individual/national development. 

c. Perceptions of social programming around the world (and how this impacts policy).

d. Institutional barriers and the politics of social programming in emerging economies (and creative ways to navigate barriers and ensure sustainability in 'policy-averse' settings e.g needs assessment surveys, community partnerships, direct benefit transfers, accountability, and oversight components with tested methods and new tech such as AI, etc.)

I am also passionate about policy analysis and communication as tools for fostering civic engagement and national development. 

If I don't work in academia, I will work in philanthropy and/or social protection program planning, development, and evaluation.

Alongside my academic journey, I am a published author of a fiction novel, Aurora, with another work, Shape of the Sun, available on Wattpad. I have a college planner out on Amazon, and I am currently developing a K-12 civic education multimedia project, Expanded Perspectives, and host a Spotify podcast, Onohi Talks (both on hiatus as I attend school).

I am currently on the APPAM Student Activities Committee and serve as the SPP Liaison for Science to Policy (S2P) @UCR. I am also the SPP Chair for Health Impact Hub, and a fiction writer for the UCR Highlander.