Jennie is a Midwesterner at heart, with a little bit of Pacific Northwest and New York influence. After growing up in Michigan and graduating from Kenyon College in Ohio with a BA in American Studies, she worked with children, youth, and families in public educational and non-profit settings in Seattle. Youth development and community engagement work challenged Jennie to think about how identity, power, privilege, and voice shape both individual and collective stories.

In 2017, Jennie relocated to NYC to attend Columbia School of Social Work in hopes of learning about the impacts of trauma in order to design more holistic and responsive youth programming. During her studies, she became increasingly interested in the concept of resilience on individual and community levels. The OHMA workshops and trainings around campus always caught her eye, and she is now excited to explore how oral history can support advocacy and facilitate systemic change efforts.

Jennie has several research interests that stem from her background in youth development, social work, and American Studies. In particular, she is eager to explore connections between the experiences of workers in the varying human services, child welfare, and public education fields within the United States, particularly given recent findings about burnout.