Research Team
Brooke Modestita
BIPOC Community Relations Coordinator
Brooke Modestita is a Puerto Rican trans woman who graduated from West Virginia University with a Major in Women’s and Gender Studies and a minor in Africana Studies, Sociology, and Native American Studies. She received an MA from McMaster’s Women’s and Gender Studies program in 2022. Brooke’s interests and research lies within the intersections of queerness and blackness. She was a nationally ranked debater in undergrad that has equipped her with skills in research, argumentation, and writing. Brooke eventually wants to become a professor and author and enjoys reading and writing. In her free time she likes to draw and channel her artistic side.
Mel Racho
Front End Developer & Analyst
Mel Racho (he/him) is a queer trans Fillipinx media artist-scholar interested in creating revolutionary systems. He holds a Master of Information in Information Systems, an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art and Digital Media, and is currently a PhD candidate in Toronto Metropolitan University and York Universities’ jointly administered Communication and Culture program with a focus on studying the data de/colonial infrastructures within the evolution and futurity of the web. He creatively contributes to York U’s Digital Justice Lab, Digital Democracies Institute’s Data Fluencies project and the Canada Council for the Arts funded Trancestor collaboration.
Maddie Murakami
Undergraduate Research Assistant
(settler, he/him) Hi! My name is Maddie Murakami. I am a trans man and I am a half-Japanese, half-white settler born and living on unceded Anishinaabe territory. Currently, I'm an undergraduate student at Carleton University working towards a Bachelors in Computer Science. I've been working on the tech team of the Transgender Media Portal project, where I've been primarily focused on building a minimal computing approach to our database and website.
Laura Horak
Director
(she/her) Hi! I am a white cis queer settler from the territory of the Cowlitz, Clackamas, and Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and of Siletz Indians, now living in the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin nation. I am the founder and director of the Transgender Media Portal and Transgender Media Lab and am an Associate Professor of Film Studies at Carleton University. Welcome to our lab! (read more)
Orvis Starkweather
Data Analyst
Orvis Starkweather (settler, they/them) is a white, neurodivergent trans person living on lək̓ʷəŋən territories. Orvis works on data analytics for the Transgender Media Portal. Their passion is to make visible the world views imbedded within data structures and redress harmful data practices.
Kit Chokly
Contributor Experience Designer
Kit Chokly (they/he) is a white trans PhD student living in Tiohtiá:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal, the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehà:ka and a long-time meeting place of First Nations people. They hold a BComs and MA from Carleton University in Communication Studies and are currently studying the overlaps of trans and media theory at McGill University.
Jada Gannon-Day
Digital Ethics Researcher
Jada (she/they) is a Black Scotian anthropology student and researcher with an interest in gendered labour and precarity in the age of digital media. Jada aims to use anthropological methods to shape the development and use of digital technology, navigating the power struggle between anti-colonial values and colonial-capitalist structures.
Aliisa Qureshi
Collections and Research Assistant
Aliisa Qureshi (she/her), a cis first-generation settler of Pakistani-Finnish heritage, is a film scholar, photographer, and emerging archivist. Her experience includes working with collections at The ArQuives, Library and Archives of Canada, and Ingenium. She was raised across Finland, Tkaronto, and the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation territory, and pursued her studies in Odawa. With a Masters of Arts in Film Studies and a Graduate Diploma in Curatorial Studies, Aliisa combines her academic background and curatorial sensibilities to challenge and inspire the archival setting. She is passionate about archival activism: combatting historical erasure and inequities and improving the representation, accessibility, and care of our histories. As a researcher for the Transgender Media Portal project, Aliisa aids in building the database collection and enhancing representation therein.
Rohan Faiyaz Khan
Frontend Developer
Rohan Faiyaz Khan (she/they) is originally from Dhaka, Bangladesh. She completed her Bachelor’s in Electronic Engineering from Multimedia University in Malaysia. She then proceeded to complete her Master’s in Computing at Queen’s University in Canada, where she is now pursuing her PhD in Computing. Rohan’s research interests include AI ethics, focusing on how bias impacts marginalized communities and methods of building fairer and more equitable AI models.
Kate Higginson
Project Coordinator
Kate (she/her) is a cis white settler living in Ottawa on the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg nations. She is the Project Manager for the Transgender Media Lab, as well as for the Morrisseau 1955-85 Project and the Cinema’s First Nasty Women project which are also based at Carleton University.
Constance Crompton
Technical Lead
Constance Crompton (settler, she/her) I am a white able-bodied queer settler scholar and Canada Research Chair in Digital Humanities. I was born and live on unceeded Anishinabe land, direct the University of Ottawa’s Labo de Données en Sciences Humaines/Humanities Data Lab.
Evie Ruddy
Digital and Lab Ethicist
(settler, they/them) Hello! I am a trans non-binary white settler living in oskana kâ-asastêki, colonially known as Regina, in Treaty 4 – the territories of the nêhiyawak, Anihšināpēk, Dakota, Lakota, and Nakoda, and the homeland of the Métis Nation. I am a socially engaged, interdisciplinary artist and PhD candidate in Cultural Mediations at the Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art, & Culture at Carleton University. My doctoral research investigates improvisation as a method for ethical co-creation between media artists and trans collaborators. As a PhD Fellow with the Transgender Media Lab, I am researching feminist lab ethics and helping to develop methodological policies and protocols that align the everyday work of the lab with our collectively determined values.
Adam Milling
Web Developer
Adam has worked in high tech in Ottawa since the mid 80s. Since 2017 he has worked at Carleton University’s School for Studies in Arts and Culture, embracing his artsy side. He would like to thank Drupal and its community for the tools that the Transgender Media Portal is built on.
Past Members
Cara Tierney
PhD Fellow
Cara Tierney (they/them) is a white transdisciplinary artist, educator and settler who lives and works on the traditional unceded land of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation in the area of Odawa (so-called Ottawa, Canada).
Cáel M. Keegan
2021-22 Fulbright Distinguished Research Chair of Arts and Social Sciences at Carleton University
Cáel M. Keegan is a cultural theorist of transgender/queer media and literature. He is primarily interested in the aesthetic forms transgender and queer people have created and how those forms shape our popular lifeworlds. Keegan is the 2021-22 Fulbright Distinguished Research Chair of Arts and Social Sciences at Carleton University and Associate Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Grand Valley State University. He is author of Lana and Lilly Wachowski: Sensing Transgender (University of Illinois Press, 2018) and co-editor of Somatechnics 8.1 on trans cinematic bodies. His writing has also appeared in Genders, Queer Studies in Media and Popular Culture, Transgender Studies Quarterly, Mediekultur, The Journal of Homosexuality, The Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, and FLOW. Currently, he serves as Special Editor for Arts and Culture at Transgender Studies Quarterly.
Jay Cooper
Research Assistant
Jay moved to Ottawa three years ago from Strathroy, Ontario. He is in his third year studying Law at Carleton University with a concentration in transnational law and human rights and a minor in Film Studies. When not doing readings he is probably listening to one of his favourite podcasts.
Magnus Berg
Metadata Analyst
Magnus is a library and archives professional. They have worked with archival collections at the Visual Studies Workshop, the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, Ryerson University, the GLBT Historical Society Archives & Museum, and the University of British Columbia (Okanagan). Magnus is a co-chair of the LGBT Committee for the Association of Moving Image Archivists. They received a Master of Arts in Film + Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University where they wrote their thesis on the access and preservation issues facing transgender audiovisual collections.
Oliver Debney
Research Assistant
Oliver is a Bachelor of Social Work student at Carleton. His research interests are focused on understanding self care as a collective practice and building communities through pursuits of pleasure and 'doing what feels good'. Oliver believes that transgender representation (and community) should highlight moments of trans joy and desirability from the perspective of trans folks and creating space(s) that are by us and for us.
Devin Jn Pierre
Assistant Web Developer
Devin is a fourth-year Computer Science student at Carleton University and assisted the senior web developer for the Transgender Media Portal. So far the project has been very interesting and he has learned a lot about both the content and the development. He is looking forward to seeing the project in progress!
Neecha Klee
User Experience Designer and Drupal Developer
Neecha is a member of Atikameksheng Anishinawbek First Nation (previously Whitefish Lake). She grew up in Ontario and has studied User Experience Design and Web Development disciplines with both Algonquin College and General Assembly. Her experience consists of a variety of design and development skills involving research, prototyping, and implementation. Along with her passion for learning, she has a strong commitment to sharing knowledge and helping others in their academic journey.
Noah Rodomar
Research Assistant
Noah graduated from Carleton University in 2018 with a Combined BA in Film Studies and Gender Studies. He recently began an MA in Women’s and Gender Studies at Carleton to study trans hegemony and gender expression. His written works include pieces on queer sexuality in horror cinema, gender performance in romantic comedies, and the challenges faced by transgender parents. In his spare time, he mentors and advocates for LGBTQ+ youth, performs as a local drag queen, and makes a mean cup of coffee.
Eduardo Soto
Drupal Developer
Eduardo is a software engineer with a focus on all things digital media. He graduated as a software engineer with a game design minor at McMaster University back in 2017 and completed his Master's Degree in Information Technology (Digital Media) at Carleton University in 2019.
