I am an assistant professor in the American Ethnic Studies Department at the University of Washington (UW). I received my Ph.D. in Sociology at Northwestern University. Before coming to UW, I was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Poverty Research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Sociology at Georgia State University. In 2011, I completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Research and Training Program on Poverty and Public Policy at the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. I earned a B.S. in Urban Government Administration from Georgia State University and an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Connecticut. I am currently writing a book about Black grandmothers’ involvement with their grandchildren in the United States from the time of slavery to the present. My other research interests include social inequality; urban poverty; race, class, and gender; Black women and HIV/AIDS; and health disparities. As the daughter of a Solo Mom, I am passionate about the issues ESME is addressing. In addition, next year, I plan to start the adoption process to become a Solo Mom myself. An ESME writer and the Education Resource Guide, I credit education, divinity, and my extended family for enabling me to transcend my own teenage mother’s class and educational status. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my Chihuahua, Espresso; listening to music; photography, yoga, travel, and social justice work; and spending time with loved ones.