I am a rhetorician and a scholar of gender and sexuality. I analyze language to understand how marginalized communities and public policy discursively co-create and impact each other and the material conditions of individuals’ lives. Discourse as exploration and action is a foundation of my work, as well as my desire to create understanding and livability between and amongst individuals. My research combines my core knowledge in rhetoric and communication with gender and sexuality to analyze sites such as street-based sex work and gendered and sexualized violence. I design research projects, analyze policy, and explore intercultural and ideological frameworks of knowledge in order to understand how they impact and are co-created by individuals. My goal is to contribute my knowledge to a larger network, learn from others, and explore the difficult questions we must confront in order to decrease violence and create freedom of self-expression and knowledge