Recent Projects

Diversifying Fort Collins: A Quick Look at CSU’s International Population Presentation

October 2021 offered me an opportunity to participate in a speaking engagement with the local Fort Collins AAUW branch regarding the culturally diverse population I work closely with at Colorado State University (CSU). I presented information, programming, and analyzed data as well as resources for getting involved with the international population who attend CSU as international students and scholars. Information was sourced from data collected via records reports, fleshed out for confidentiality purposes, and synthesized into manageable data sets for the presentation. The powerpoint was specifically designed for after-presentation use including clickable links and contextual information useful to members of the branch who may not have been able to attend the presentation or who would like to be able to spend more time with the material and have access to the resources presented.

Hosting National Geographic Correspondence Writer and Explorer, Mark Jenkins

In September 2015, I helped organize a public event for National Geographic Correspondence Writer, Mark Jenkins, in the small town of Torrington, Wyoming where the University of Wyoming once had a satellite distance learning office. Jenkins serves as a guest lecturer at the University of Wyoming, which allowed our office the opportunity to host his amazing presentation about his exploration of the world’s largest cave, located in Vietnam. My tiny team of two helped Jenkins set up his presentation in the local community college’s auditorium, assisted with book and ticket sales, organized crowds, and worked closely with Jenkins before and after his presentation to ensure the event went off without a hitch. It was an absolute pleasure working with Jenkins and an inspiration as my own writing career was just taking off at the time. My favorite interaction with him came when I casually mentioned the publication of my novel and he responded with “Wow! I’ve never written a novel!” This came from a man who had summited Everest and it was humbling.

Beaux Cooper Media

Established in 2015, Beaux Cooper Media (BC) has grown beyond its simple blog origins into a shared creative space and online publication. We strive to disseminate literature, research, news, inspiration, tips and tools of the trade, and entertainment across all modalities that best fit the information presented as well as builds upon already existing literature-loving communities across the globe.

We actively seek out collaborative projects with other artists and aim to create a space where writers can share their work, advice, and feedback. As a result, BC has had the privilege of featuring short stories from writers across the United States, the Arapaho Nation, England, Ireland, Norway, and South Africa.

As of 2020, we started accepting all genre submissions for flash fiction, short and serial stories, and poetry. I currently serve as Director and one of the contributing authors for the budding online publication that is currently processing a rebranding of its strategic plan.

International Student & Scholar Services Communications Overhaul

Since joining the International Student & Scholar Services team at Colorado State University in 2017, I have worked on updating and upgrading the communications campaigns directed at our internal and external clients. This includes creating dozens of email templates for common themes throughout our unit’s processes, the development of infographics and social media posts, website maintenance, eForm creation, general announcements, surveys, and newsletters.

Communication styles and messaging vary from industry-familiar clients to second language learners with zero experience with immigration regulations and processes which create new challenges in how we present our information. These communications are often high stakes, with an individual’s immigration status at the heart of the messaging so making sure we can communicate efficiently and effectively is vital.

International Student & Scholar Services Website Redesign

Near the end of 2019, my unit within the Office of International Programs at Colorado State University was tasked with the hefty project of migrating and redesigning our website that was over a decade old. We had a two-month deadline and about 250 pages to migrate, consolidate, review for accuracy, create new content, and refresh to modern SEO standards. Due to my experience with web design and maintenance, I served as Project Leader under the supervision of our Associate Director, and with the help of my amazing, yet amateur team, we were able to finish the project a week ahead of schedule. You can learn more about the Website Redesign project and view before and after videos of the website.

PBS’s Farm to Fork: Wyoming Marketing Campaign

In 2019, I had the absolute pleasure of collaborating with fellow author, Darrah Perez-Good Voice Elk, marketing her project working with PBS’s Farm to Fork: Wyoming. Perez-Good Voice Elk served as an Associate Producer on the show’s episode titled Food Sovereignty in Indian Country. Beaux Cooper Media hosted a 3-part interview series with Perez-Good Voice Elk and contributed to her social media campaign for spreading the news about the episode. Perez-Good Voice Elk is a popularly featured artist on Beaux Cooper Media.

General Academic Research

I have been fortunate to be able to pursue an education in a field I am passionate about – Anthropology. I am fascinated with the story of us and love learning about the different ways humanity has grown since the beginning of our existence. My education is a passion project that has allowed me to work full time while also attending courses full time, or, in the case of Spring 2019, almost double full time at 19 credits.

This academic field does not shy away from lengthy research projects which have gifted me formal training in academic research, analysis, and presentation. I have produced successful, A-level research papers on Colorado History such as women’s suffrage and the history of Estes Park, rock art as a demonstration of the development of symbolic thought in humans, human biological evolution as evidence of symbolic thought in Homo sapiens, climate change refugees, chicanx studies, interpretations of archaeological sites in Greece and Rome, the medicalization of women’s reproductive health, and American archaeology.

These deep dives into historic, cultural, and global topics allowed me to stretch my legs outside of my once fiction-only comfort zone and produce quality works that communicate data analysis, academic and private-sector studies, and expert opinions in a concise, reliable, and truthful way.

You can find other samples of my academic writing on the Beaux Cooper Media website.