I grew up in a working-class family. My dad fixed machinery in a factory, my mom worked the counter at McDonald’s, and my father’s union job kept the lights on—but just barely. The mortgage got paid, but vacations didn’t happen, and “eating out” meant fast food or a stop at the local diner. I was the kid who got teased for wearing hand-me-downs, but I also grew up surrounded by extended family, developed close friendships, and internalized a sense of community that shaped who I am. From those early years, I learned to work hard, take care of people around me, and value what truly matters.
College felt like stepping into a foreign country—I didn’t know the language, the rules, or the map. No financial support from my family and a fear of debt kept me close to home at the local community college. I started out majoring in business, but everything changed the day I took my first sociology class. Suddenly, the theories about inequality and class gave me a language for my life, including my struggles, my pride, my fears, and my dreams. I made plenty of mistakes along the way, but with financial aid and mentors who believed in me, I found my footing. That journey eventually led me all the way to a PhD in sociology.
I am now a professor of sociology at Ohio Wesleyan University. While I have one foot in the middle-class professional world of higher education, I have always kept my other foot in the working-class culture in which I was raised. I enjoy time with my working-class friends and family and I work extensively with our community partners addressing poverty and economic inequality. I also work closely with working-class first-generation students, including teaching courses on the first-gen student experience. Using my research on class cultures, I train faculty and higher education staff on first-generation students, pedagogy, and programming. I take pride in my working-class roots and seek to lift up others around me.