A little information about me

My Past

My academic background includes a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from California State University, Northridge and a Masters Degree in Psychology from Pepperdine University.  My previous research includes a master's thesis about stress reduction and the role music plays.  Professionally, my background is diverse.  I have worked in the insurance industry for a number of years as a part time agent's assistant.  I have also worked in the entertainment industry as an administrative director, a producer's assistant and as a freelance psychological consultant for independent features and shorts.  My previous experience includes character and project research and development.

My Present

Currently, I am unemployed and spending my time helping to raise my youngest niece (6 years old) and nephew (9 months old.)  My scholarly interests include studying the various effects of the media on the development of viewers, particularly young children and adolescent viewers.  I am also concerned with the rating system for children's movies and the development of children's websites.  The past six years has significantly changed the way I look at television shows, movies, and websites.  I have become even more aware of how certain types of movies and television shows can affect children and adolescents in positive and negative ways.  I also have an interest in how the use of different forms of media (i.e., photography, movie watching, music writing or listening, etc.) can affect one's stress levels and moods.  As well as using these different forms of media to purposefully elicit a particular response. My photography hobby has also led me to an interest in psychologically looking at the creative process that one goes through when they are creating media as a form of self-expression vs. when they are creating media for commercial purposes.

My Future

My professional goals include educating the entertainment industry and the psychology community on the affects certain types of entertainment can have on the development of children and adolescents.  As well as teaching Media Psychology at film schools, music schools, and universities to educate future generations of filmmakers, television creators, musicians, and psychologists.  Ideally, I would love to have an impact on the way the MPAA rates movies, particularly children's movies.  I believe that the rating system needs to better coincide with the psychological development of the intended audience.  I believe that the future of children's media lies not only with educating the parents, but also educating the media creators.