Hi I’m Sophie. I've spent my career asking what it takes to bring people together, and exploring the power, and limitations, of digital spaces. That question has led me from social media strategy to public art installations, from menu development to event production. Just like my academic path, my career resists easy categorization; I've always found myself at the intersection of fields, not within them.

The pandemic made me step back and think analytically about what I was actually interested in. As a chronically online teenager, community management and social media strategy were a natural progression. Under the mentorship of, and in collaboration with, Joe Federer, former head of Brand Strategy at Reddit, that work deepened into something more intentional: building cohesive brand identities and content strategies for DTC brands. But the more time I spent cultivating digital communities, the more I found myself confronting a fundamental tension: if the internet can mediate so much of human experience, what does it remain structurally incapable of replacing?

So when I returned to school, I built my own degree to keep exploring those questions. I designed my Arts Marketing curriculum through UMass Amherst's BDIC program, studying marketing and management through the lens of creative industries. During that time I earned a Certificate in Arts Management through the Arts Extension Service, received two grants for public art installations, contributed to Dr. Ethan Zuckerman's research on YouTube platform quantification, and channeled my interest in Public Interest Technology into a commissioned sculpture marking the department's founding at UMass.

My interest in building community offline led me to bartending, which quickly evolved into a deep passion for the food & beverage/hospitality sector. I developed nostalgic, conceptually rooted cocktail menus for Amherst Coffee, then contributed to the cocktail program at Short & Main, which earned North Shore Magazine's editor's pick for Best Cocktail Bar in 2025.

The same instinct drove me toward event production. I've helped manage large conferences IASC and NIVA, and founded a live band burlesque collective with recurring shows at the Marigold Theater in Easthampton, MA. I conceptualize and produce the show, which provides a holistic, chronological history of the culturally significant art form. (We will be heading out on a 6-city tour this summer!)

I'm currently exploring event management and high-end culinary experiences at Pinch Food Design, while continuing my freelance work building brand identities and content strategies for DTC brands, startups, nonprofits and more.

Currently, my goal is to pursue a career at the intersection of the culinary arts, marketing and management. I am particularly interested in exploring the possibilities of experiential marketing.