Narrative Collaborations

The UpThink Narrative Initiative engages with aligned institutions—think tanks, funders, public historians and scholars, and other scholarly researchers—to transform systemic research into narrative-rich public knowledge.

Institutions seeking to transform research insights into story-driven public scholarship can commission a range of engagements designed to extend reach, deepen rigor, and strengthen narrative coherence. They include:

• Commissioned Essays & Public Narratives
  Longform essays that synthesize your institution’s research into powerful, accessible stories for stakeholder engagement or public scholarship.
• Narrative Reports & Briefs
  Research-informed reports, working papers, policy briefs, or archival narratives that blend analytical depth with story-rich framing to shift how finance sector leaders understand racialized systems.
• Embedded Narrative Roles
  Visiting writer, research fellow, or narrative advisor placements that support the emergence of meaningful stories from within your organization’s archives, fieldwork, or initiatives.

These commissioned projects are grounded in scholarly alignment with your research or research we conduct together. They are designed to amplify critical narratives—not replicate conventional messaging.

My approach to research is founded in my lived experience as a woman racialized as Black in a society structured to silence, distort, or erase our truths. Since my undergraduate years at Wellesley College, this perspective has informed how I interrogate systems, surface suppressed narratives, and produce scholarship that confronts the legacy of exclusion in U.S. finance. My scholarly and live experience includes:

• Advanced master's and doctoral research investigating how historical anti-Black narratives shaped exclusion in U.S. finance
• Award-winning long form financial journalism with 25+ years of systemic analysis and storytelling work
• Life experience rooted in a legacy of resistance, economic advocacy, and cultural truth-telling across generations
• Scholarly-practice with the unique ability to translate academic findings into accessible, emotionally resonant stories

This intersection of rigorous scholarship, lived experience, and narrative authority allows me to illuminate truths that institutions have long denied or disregarded.

If your organization is producing research that needs to move audiences to transform their narratives ethically—not just inform them—I welcome the opportunity to discuss a narrative collaboration.

This work is designed to supplement your findings and help them resonate deeply, elevate institutional thinking, and trigger meaningful change without compromising complexity or truth.