As a Social Impact Fellow at New America, I led a study examining how parasocial trust in influencers shapes financial decisions among young adults. Nearly 80% of Gen Z now turn to social media for guidance on budgeting, investing, and even gambling on crypto. That trust can empower, helping users build sustainable habits, or it can be exploited for risky schemes and misinformation.
policy
Applied work bringing research on parasocial trust, influence, and decision-making to policy organizations.
In collaboration with Diverting Hate, I am mapping the network structure of online manosphere communities, examining how communities are organized and how they interact with one another.
At ideas42, I supported a policy research project on administrative burdens and child poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period when safety net programs such as SNAP and Medicaid rapidly changed their eligibility, recertification, and application processes. I conducted qualitative literature reviews on how these changes shaped administrative burden and program participation, and wrote a policy brief.