I am a third-year Harvard PhD candidate, Graduate Prize Fellow, Karl Deutsch Fellow, and 2024-25 Weatherhead Center Graduate Student Associate. My research lies at the intersection of comparative political economy, development economics, and economic history. Specifically, I quantitatively explore how the social and institutional legacies of pre-colonial (and colonial) episodes continue to shape contemporary political and economic development outcomes in West Africa. My dissertation explores this in the context of traditionally age and kinship-based societies as well as ranked societies, and the ways through which the existing normative order interacts with majoritarian democratic values and necessitates a reevaluation of appropriate political and economic policy.

In 2023 I was 1 of 30 recipients of a Forbes 30 under 30 North America award in education for my work as the founder and president of the Research in Color Foundation — a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the representation and retention of historically excluded scholars in economics through mentorship and financial support. Through the program 95 scholars benefited from eight months of direct mentorship, and the foundation provided over $160,000 in scholarships to mentees. In the past, I have worked with institutions such as the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, and the United Nations, on topics related to private sector firm development in emerging markets as well as identifying challenges to MSME operations. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and International Studies from the University of Michigan and a Master’s degree in Applied Economics from George Washington University. For the 2023-24 school year, I was on leave from my PhD program and working as a Staff Economist with the White House Council of Economics Advisers on topics related to international economics and trade. Check out my CV here!