I came to organizational research sideways. I spent my twenties performing on stage and screen, then more than a decade building things in Chicago, inside a fast-scaling startup, on my own productions, and eventually running a nonprofit dedicated to the commercial space industry education and advocacy. Studying hype is, in a lot of ways, an attempt to make sense of that last chapter: an industry, asteroid mining, almost entirely defined by the future everyone expects it to have.
Trained as a performer, with a degree that turned out to be surprisingly useful preparation for pitching strategy frameworks to entrepreneurs and executives alike.
Worked as a performer, stage fighter, and producer across various film and stage productions in Los Angeles and Chicago.
Joined during Groupon's early growth and moved through data entry, quality assurance, and account coordination into National Sales Project Manager (2012–2013) and Experiential Marketing & Event Planner (2013–2014) roles.
Founded and ran an independent production company in Chicago. Kentalago's mission was to help theatre companies and practitioners translate their stories and skills into film and podcast productions.
Concentrations in Applied Economics, Marketing, and Strategy & Decision-Making, advised by Rafael Tenorio.
Led an organization whose mission is to educate entrepreneurs and investors about their respective challenges and opportunities. This included producing the NewSpace Business Plan Competition, Space Investor Summit, and the Mission Eve Podcast.
Taught strategy and economics courses and coordinated the Business Strategy & Decision-Making program, hosting the Economics & Strategy Podcast, producing alumni newsletters, and organizing panel and speaker series.
All but dissertation, chaired by Anne Parmigiani, with a committee of Andrew Nelson, Alex Murray, and Jill Anne Harrison. Researching hype and teaching strategy to undergraduates at the Lundquist College of Business.