Kellen Sharp is a first-year MA in the Radio-Television-Film department studying Media Studies. He is a Wisconsin native and recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin -Madison, where he earned a BA in Communication Arts: Radio, TV, Film and minored in Digital Studies. Kellen is passionate about media’s ability to connect communities and cultivate identities.

Laurel is a third-year PhD student and Assistant Instructor in the Radio-Television-Film Department. Her interests sit at the intersections of fandom, fan studies, and nostalgia, particularly the sites where fans, creators, and industry collide. She is interested in the “reboot culture” boom of recent adaptations, remakes, reboots, and new franchise entries, and how nostalgia factors into the production, marketing, and reception of these media texts.Her other research interests include online platforms, science fiction, and superheroes.

Caleb is an MBA candidate at the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin focusing on Strategy, Brand Management and Marketing. Prior to McCombs, he received his undergraduate degree in Supply Chain Management and a minor in Communications and Media Studies from Texas A&M University. After graduating, he worked in various supply chain roles across multiple industries focusing on creating tools to streamline processes for customers and internal stakeholders.

Outside of work, he worked on several entrepreneurial ventures and passion projects in the media space. He co-founded a networking and media entity to connect African Diaspora, called BunaTime, and was able to market and grow the social media presence to over 100k followers in one year across all platforms. He also started a music label to release and produce music for myself and other artists. Amazingly, the music created has garnered millions of views on YouTube and other music platforms, played on multiple television programs around the world (including MTV, Mnet [South Korea], and CityTV [Canada]), and has allowed him to perform several shows and festivals from SXSW here in Austin to Tokyo. His early success in the music industry has also given him the opportunity of being a Voting Member for the Recording Academy (Grammy Awards), his childhood dream.

Michelle Lee is a second year MBA student at McCombs School of Business at UT. Upon graduating with a Business Honors and Finance BBA degree from UT, she moved to San Francisco to work as a management consultant at IBM. After gaining experience helping multiple Fortune 100 companies improve their business strategy, she took an Operations role at a fintech startup, automating processes for their online platform. This sparked her interest in the product space, which led her to a product pricing and analysis role at a wealth management company. After spending 4 years in San Francisco, Michelle moved back to Texas and decided to pursue her MBA to switch into an industry and field that more closely aligned with her passions. She has always been an avid consumer of tv and films and would love to build a career in the media and entertainment space, working with innovative products and technology during such a transformational period for the industry.

Ann is a PhD student in the Radio-Television-Film department at the University of Texas at Austin. She earned her bachelor's degree in Film and Media Studies from the University of Oklahoma and her master's degree in Media Studies from the University of Oregon. In her doctoral work, Ann plans to pursue questions about how aesthetic elements influence how power operates in sex scenes and the relationship between those aesthetic elements and media production processes.Ann has worked in feature film and television production in a variety of freelance positions, most recently as a Second Assistant Director, Location Coordinator, and Producer.

Born and raised in Northern California, Lana received her BA in Media Studies and Film Theory at UC Berkeley. She has produced video journalism pieces, short documentaries, and films that center on queer or multicultural independent artists, local communities, and activist groups primarily based in the Bay Area. Returning to her academic foundations, Lana is shifting her sights to digital platforms and identifying through cultural analysis how marginalized communities have made a space in the entertainment production industry. Her studies have included the cultural implications of racebending in animation and audio entertainment, as well as the implications of subtitling and translation in a globalized streaming industry. In her free time, she is discovering new experimental podcasts or moviegoing/streaming loudly with friends.

Yujin was born in Seoul, South Korea, and was raised in Atlanta, GA. She graduated from Macalester College with a major in Media and Cultural Studies and a minor in Psychology, during which she spent a semester abroad at the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests include digital media and the construction of racial and ethnic identities through globalization and the rise of new media.

Nehal Kamel is a Muslim Egyptian who received her BA in English Literature from the University of Texas and is interested in the intersection of culture and digital media. Her research centers on how marginalized communities create spaces of expression and exploration on digital media platforms, with a focus on Muslim and fan communities. She's currently working with her college roommate on a podcast to increase media literacy and understanding of pop culture. When she's not working on a new research project or her podcast, she's binge reading or watching TV shows, then following up with their online communities.

Areas of interest: Cultural Studies, Digital Media, Fan Studies, Pop Culture.

Kathryn is a PhD student in the Radio-Television-Film department at the University of Texas at Austin. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on cultural hybridization in transnational media and on the acquisition and production of non-U.S. television by global streaming platforms. She also focuses on transnational sports media. She earned her master's degree in Communication, Culture, and Technology at Georgetown University. Prior to Georgetown, Kathryn worked as a Senior Associate in PwC's Capital Markets Advisory group and as a Program Associate at a foreign policy think-tank. She graduated from George Washington University with a bachelor's degree in International Affairs.

Areas of Focus: Global media, sports media, hybridization, transnational flow, streaming media, and globalization.

Pooja Ghadiali grew up in Mumbai, India where she did I.T. engineering. She was elected marketing head of her college's cultural club and realized how much she enjoyed learning about different businesses. This motivated her to pursue her Master's in Information Systems where she learned to drive business by using technology. After graduating, she worked with Deloitte across many industries, learning to work cross-functionally. During her time at Deloitte, she designed a product for the family business and enjoyed seeing the impact of her product. This inspired her to switch to leading her family manufacturing business full-time. Having developed and launched over 80 products, she realized that, while she loved the product management and marketing parts of her role, she missed using cutting-edge technology to drive business. This is why she chose to do her MBA. Being a complete 90s kid, she has seen the impact of media, communication and technology in the world and plans to use it as a force to drive business. She currently uses it to share short stories she writes on her Instagram page–SnugStory. Post-MBA, she plans to pivot to product management in the media and entertainment industry.