She received her PhD in Human Development & Family Studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research and teaching focus on the ways that race, sexuality, gender, class and other social locations are interrelated, negotiated, and context dependent. Her previous work has focused on the experiences of LGBTQ people of color as they navigate the racialized contexts of their neighborhoods, and the experiences of rural, low income mothers. Her current work investigates the ways that LGQ parents in Black and mixed race families teach their teenagers about race and queer culture.