Howdy.

I grew up with a deep belief that ideas have consequences and that the stories we tell (or fail to tell) shape the world we live in. That conviction has taken me through a lot of unexpected rooms: a university debate floor in Austin, an Air Force chapel, a seminary library in Oklahoma, a software engineering school in Denver, and more national parks than I can count with a lab/shepherd riding shotgun.

I studied International Relations at the University of Texas at Austin as a Presidential Scholar and Jefferson Scholar, with a focus on African Studies and Environmental Science. I studied abroad in Botswana, with boots-on-the-ground experience researching wildlife tourism sustainability. After graduating, I served as a Chaplain Candidate in the United States Air Force Reserve Chaplain Corps — an experience that planted the questions I'd spend the next several years trying to answer. What happens when faith and institutional power collide? Who gets to speak for God in the halls of government and the theater of war? And what does any of it mean for women?

Those questions took me to Phillips Theological Seminary in Oklahoma, where I earned a Master of Theological Studies with a focus on the intersection of religion, politics, and women. My thesis examined Christian Nationalism in US military chaplaincy — original research that sits at the crossroads of faith, gender, and American civic identity. It's the work I'm most proud of, and it's the intellectual engine behind everything Follow the Leighder puts into the world.

I have served the Disciples of Christ denomination for two months in Pakistan through Week of Compassion as a Disaster Response Intern, and chosen as Global Theological Fellow for HELM Disciples. I was chosen as a Stone-Campbell Graduate Essay Finalist & as a Student Scholar, as well as a Phillips Theological Seminary Scholar.

I built this platform because I believe that rigorous, women-centered perspectives on history, theology, and culture belong in the public conversation; not just in academic journals. With 225K+ followers across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and podcast platforms, Follow the Leighder has become a home for curious, progressive women who want to go deeper. Every episode, every essay, every conversation is an invitation to think harder, ask better questions, and follow the story wherever it leads. I'm glad you're here.

Int’l Relations, UT Austin
Presidential Scholar & Jefferson Scholar

45 U.S. States
& International Travel

USAFR Chaplain Corps,
Chaplain Candidate

Historian, Theologian, Advocate
& Children’s Book Author

MTS, Phillips Theological Seminary
Stone-Campbell Scholar

225K+ Followers
on 5 Platforms

What Drives Me

I am not interested in easy answers or comfortable conversations. I am interested in the questions that have mattered across centuries — who holds power, who tells the story, and who gets left out — and in bringing those questions to an audience that is sharp enough to wrestle with them.

History is not background noise. Theology is not just for seminaries. Women's stories are not a niche. Follow the Leighder exists to make that case, week after week, with the best minds I can find and a microphone that stays on long enough to actually get somewhere.

That's the mission. Come along.