Ashley is a first-year doctoral student and graduate research assistant studying sociocultural anthropology. She received their BA in English and Writing/Rhetoric from Oakland University in 2013, and her MA in Liberal Studies from Oakland University in 2017. For her master’s thesis, "Applied Visual Anthropology in the Progressive Era: The Influence of Lewis Hine’s Child Labor Photographic Series," she looked at historical photographs and linked them to social justice issues and reformers during the progressive era in America. She has also been a Lecturer in Oakland University’s Anthropology department where she taught, “Culture and Society through Film." In this course, students watched classical and modern adaptations of ethnographic films and discussed how they can be interpreted through an anthropological lens. For her PhD, she is interested in how the use of digital interventions contribute to preserving downtown or main street cultural heritage in rural southeast Michigan.