Before entering the folklore program, Sophia Okada Callahan received her BBA from Parsons the New School for Design in Strategic Design and Management. After graduating, she worked in consumer insights and trend forecasting for various global brands and organizations. While working, she...Read more about Sophia Okada Callahan
Ciarán was born and raised in Ireland, moving to the Bay Area with his family 25 years ago. After a career spent in the tech industry, he changed direction to pursue his academic ambitions in anthropology and folklore, receiving his BA in anthropology from Cal in 2024. Through the masters...Read more about Ciarán Doyle
Marilyn Petersen joined the Peace Corps in 1996 and served in Uzbekistan for three and a half years. Her main project was teaching English at the University of Bukhara. As her Secondary Project, she chose to collect the national folklore and write a book as an education tool for the schools in...Read more about Marilyn Petersen
Lola holds a BA in Anthropology from Wesleyan University, where she wrote an urban anthropology thesis examining Angelenos' relationships with their cars and the freeway infrastructure of Los Angeles. After working in cultural analysis for a market research company, Lola moved to Galicia...Read more about Lola Sounigo
Joining the folklore program after receiving her BA in art with a minor in folklore and popular culture at USC, Nicole finds her academic interests lie in the study of the Afro-Cuban religion Santería (also referred to as Lucumí). Having first been introduced to the religion through an...Read more about Nicole Tubman
Lauren Bartone is a PhD student in Italian Studies with a designated emphasis in folklore.
Her background as a visual artist strongly informs her approach to studying Italian culture. Before joining the Department of Italian Studies...Read more about Lauren Bartone
Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM)
Mairi is a doctoral student in UC Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management's Division of Society and Environment, with a designated emphasis from the Folklore Graduate Group. She is a data driven storyteller, seedkeeper, writer, and researcher...Read more about Mairi Creedon
