As a health researcher, sociologist, and PhD candidate in Political Sociology, I work on projects that address inequalities around race, gender, mental health, and well-being.

My research focuses on consciousness and how we move through uncertain, in-between spaces, including the inner shifts and resulting social changes that are possible as a result of these adaptations.

My research addresses how marginalized communities, particularly Black women, navigate systemic inequalities while cultivating practices of resilience, creativity, and care. I explore how (post)colonial legacies and health systems constrain well-being, while also highlighting the spiritual, emotional, and communal resources that open possibilities for otherwise futures.

My current research investigates the mental health experiences of Black neurodivergent women in the Netherlands with a focus on ADHD and autism. It examines how mental health challenges like depression, anxiety, burnout, and trauma are shaped not only by individual conditions but by systemic pressures at intersections of race, gender, neurotype, and migration background. By interrogating structural (in)competencies in healthcare, I critique dominant medical ontologies and epistemic injustices while advocating for more inclusive and equitable approaches to care.

My past work has examined the healing and political potential of Black feminist organizing in Amsterdam, where women contest Dutch norms of color-blindness and progressiveness through everyday truth-telling, venting, and refusal. I have also explored Black Twitter’s humor practices during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, showing how Black cultural references can serve as powerful tools for coping, connection, and creative problem solving in the face of epidemic risk. Together, these projects underscore how Black communities create meaning, care, and solidarity under conditions of vulnerability.

Research methods

• Interpretive phenomenological analysis
• Qualitative interviews and focus groups
• Participatory action research
• Ethnographic fieldwork
• Social media content and discourse analysis
• Sampling and coding of high-volume datasets
• Development of thematic codebooks

Research methods

I’m currently working on the project (Dis)trusting on the Edge, which investigates how risk and trustworthiness are understood and shaped within care institutions. We focus on processes through which trust and democratic action are built among marginalized communities. Rather than placing distrust solely on marginalized individuals, we shift our focus to the trustworthiness (or lack thereof) of institutions themselves.

Our work aims to highlight how trust or distrust develops based on whether individuals feel seen, acknowledged, and respected, and whether institutions are perceived as competent and open to change. By democratizing how risk and trustworthiness are defined, we aim to co-create more inclusive policies with a variety of stakeholders for systemic change within health institutions by tackling health inequalities tied to socioeconomic and cultural factors.