Kari Elam (b. Baltimore, MD) is an MTS student at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley. Before joining the GTU, Kari’s professional and scholastic background traversed the scape of Media and Communication.

She received her BA in Public Communication, with a minor in Sociology, from American University in Washington, DC. She holds a dual MSc/MA degree in Global Media and Communication from the London School of Economics and the University of Southern California, respectively.

Her MSc dissertation explored how the narrative intersection between youth subculture celebrity iconography and dominant political ideology, as articulated through pop media representation and presidential keynote speech, established a discursive framework for Millennial cultural identity; her MA thesis research further delved into the cultural form and function of celebrity iconography and generational identity, by interpreting archetypes and architectures of Millennial pop media events during the mid-Aughts.

Kari’s professional involvement echoes her academic interest in media culture; collaborating and contributing primarily within the spheres of digital branding, creative direction, media production, and editorial publishing.

Centrally, Kari’s work engages with the fundamental question of how people shape contemporary culture through articulation of presence in expressed identity; subsequently, within that dynamic, how do we develop signature spaces for creative communion through the human connection of shared experience … particularly within the locus realm of music entertainment culture.