Rachael is from Michigan, USA, and has been an advocacy for the freedom of speech throughout her career.

In the past, Rachael has studied Soviet-era media capture, assisted journalists and activists engaged in oppositional media in Russia, and co-founded initiatives to improve media plurality. She has worked with NGOs such as the Center for International Media Assistance on issues ranging from digital media sustainability to platform transparency. Rachael is interested in how emergent social technologies have transformed modern media consumption and interaction. This past year she completed an MSc in Social Science of the Internet at the Oxford Internet Institute. Her research investigated various factors influencing algorithmic comment ranking decisions on YouTube news channels. Rachael is passionate about entrepreneurship and believes that it is ever more necessary for leaders in the private and public sectors to work together to build trustworthy and accountable information environments.

Rachael is a Rhodes Scholar.