I was born and raised in New Haven, CT, and attended Hopkins High School. I graduated from The University of Connecticut - Storrs Campus in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in Psychological Sciences and English and a minor in French. After working with AmeriCorps as an English class teacher’s assistant for a year at a charter school in Bridgeport, CT,  I was accepted into the Hot Metal Bridge Post-Baccalaureate Program at the University of Pittsburgh. I joined the clinical psychology doctoral program (concentration: child/adolescent) at VCU in the fall of 2022. My research interests include pediatric psychology with Black/African American youth who have chronic illnesses (e.g., Sickle Cell Disease) and experience internalizing and externalizing symptoms that affect them and their families. My master's thesis focuses on the relationship between pain and depressive symptoms among Black adolescents and their parents, as well as whether parental depression acts as a moderator of the pain-depression cycle. Clinically, I am interested in providing mental health services for African American children and families both in inpatient and outpatient hospital settings and within the community. I hope to conduct research in primary care and work in a university hospital setting.