I was born and raised in Richmond, VA. As a kid, I had many different interests – music, sports, art – but I came into mathematics much later in life. I attended The City College of New York for my undergraduate education and played on the women’s basketball team in my first two years. I hadn’t decided on a major, but I’ve always liked science and figured I’d use it to forge a career in athletics.

But that changed in my second year! I had a phenomenal teacher for Calculus III. He had (and still has!) an extraordinary gift for explaining complex ideas in easy ways. I had never heard math spoken with such clarity and insight and – more strikingly – with such humility. I felt as though I had been granted access into a world which was, until then, completely invisible to me. I was – and still am – enamored by how mathematics is so expertly woven into the world around us. That’s when I decided to major in math and physics. It was such an exciting time, and that excitement still hasn’t worn off!

I’m now a PhD student at the CUNY Graduate Center working in algebraic topology and applied category theory. In my free time I enjoy sharing mathematics through my blog Math3ma and, more recently, through PBS Infinite Series on YouTube.