HELLO, I'M ELIX.
ABOUT ME
Hi, my name is Elix, and from a young age, I have had a deep fascination with why we do the weird little things we do that come together to form what we know as culture. Currently, I am finishing my Ph.D. in Anthropology at Stanford while also working as a UX Researcher. My work looks at aging and has taken me to Spain, Cuba, and Miami. To learn more about me, keep exploring my site, or reach out directly.
EXPERIENCE
Background & Expertise
July 2022 - present
LEAD UX RESEARCHER
Conduct qualitative user research, user study moderation, administer questionnaires and surveys, literature reviews, liaise with participant recruiting teams and participant onboarding, qualitative data analysis/synthesis, draft findings, recommendations, and reports based on user research, advocate research findings to diverse audiences through written and oral presentations.
November 2021 - July 2022
UX RESEARCHER, GOOGLE VIA ARTECH
-
Execute research to answer key questions to measure the impact of Google’s mentorship programs and the effectiveness of an internal tool matching mentors with mentees
-
Conduct 110+ user interviews of Googlers
-
Develop, distribute, and analyze impact surveys to 800+ users
-
Define success metrics and lead data analysis
-
Create artifacts and materials for study (e.g., screeners, consent forms, interview scripts, communication templates)
-
Liaise with product counsel to ensure user privacy and safeguard data
-
Advising on and developing evaluation processes to iterate research
-
Build, monitor, and interpret quantitative and qualitative data
September 2020 - July 2022
GRADUATE STUDENT COORDINATOR
The Medical Humanities” Stanford Humanities Center
January 2017 - July 2022
INSTRUCTOR AND TEACHING ASSISTANT
Original Courses at Stanford University:
"Cuba | Youth in Revolution"
"Millennial Pop Culture"
TA for:
“Madness and Civilization”
"Contemporary Debates in Anthropology"
*Centennial Teaching Award*
(2020-2021)
May 2019 - January 2020
VISITING SCHOLAR, CUBAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Lecture and research alongside scholars
September 2018 - September 2019
VISITING SCHOLAR, INSTITUTO DE HISTORIA, HAVANA
Lecture and research alongside scholars
September 2016 - July 2022
GRADUATE STUDENT COORDINATOR
Coordinated and lead a year-long research workshop in the Medical Humanities that developed a rich network of scholars from diverse backgrounds and disciplines and engaged in conversation on complex intersections
Assisted in contract negotiations with major publishing house
September 2018-September 2019
PEER REVIEWER, CONTINGENT HORIZONS
Review manuscripts and articles for journal publications
2015
PROGRAM COORDINATOR, INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN
Logistical planning for “Marking Time” Prison Arts and Activism Conference
July 2014 - May 2015
RESEARCH ASSISTANT, AMERICAN STUDIES AND LATINO STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, BOSTON
Archival research in the New York City court system as well as archival research, locating, and cataloging out of print materials at the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts for "Our Latin Thing: Fania Records, Nuyorican Subjectivities, and the 1970s New York Salsa Boom" (2015). Journal of Popular Music Studies, 27(3): 274-303. and “A Tale of Two Singers: Representation, Copyright, and ‘El Cantante’.” Latino Studies Journal 13, no. 1 (2015): 44-68.
September 2014 -September 2015
RESEARCH ASSISTANT, AMERICAN STUDIES DEPARTMENT, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
Securing permission to use copyrighted images for On Racial Icons: Blackness and the Public Imagination. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2015.
June 2011 - April 2012
FINANCIAL COORDINATOR, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
Interfacing with vendors and performers as well as handling anything that came under the umbrella of “finance”
EDUCATION
My Studies
Take a look below to find an outline of my educational background, which includes the institutions I’ve attended, degrees and qualifications I’ve received, as well as my academic achievements along the way.
PHD STANFORD UNIVERSITY
September 2015 - present
“Patria Y Muerte: Growing Old in Contemporary Cuba”
Cuba’s low fertility rates, coupled with an exodus of its youth population, foreshadow an impending demographic and social crisis. Together these issues threaten to further burden the country’s already limited economic resources. This project offers a study of Cuba’s aging population, targeting Cuba’s Revolutionary cohort. Participant observation, structured and semi-structured interviews, as well as life and work histories were collected and analyzed to unpack how elders navigate Cuba’s changing landscape while creating new social networks that facilitate habituation practices.
MA STANFORD UNIVERSITY
September 2015 - June 2016
“Raising the Child Cuban: Negotiating Childhood, Family, and Education in a Socialist State”
This project explored how children in Havana came to construct and shape their identity as Cuban citizens. Additionally, it inquired into what childhood looks like in Cuba’s capital city during a period of rapid political change as the island country begins to open itself up to both diplomatic relations and economic exchange with the United States. Furthermore, it sought to illuminate how these children, ages 8-15, cultivated their identities during this period while also maintaining and possibly shifting their understanding of what it means to be Cuban. Ultimately, this project looked at how children negotiated personhood and agency in modern Cuban society by looking at how family and education influence the child’s understanding of their Cubanness in relation to the nation-state.
FULBRIGHT STUDENT AWARD
September 2013 - August 2014
Madrid, Spain
Active in over 160 countries, the Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. As an English Teaching Assistant (ETA) with the Fulbright Program, I provided academic support across various disciplines at a Bilingual Public High School in the Comunidad de Madrid.
BA RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
September 2008 - June 2012
“Racial Blending and the Politics of Hair”
In my thesis, I argued that the dominant representation of beauty standardized by long, straightened hair has had great socio-cultural effects on identity formations and notions of physical beauty among these two groups of women. Additionally, I analyzed at the chasm over notions of blackness that persists between African-American and Dominican-American hair communities. My goal was to carefully analyze the politics and treatment of ethnic hair, including how many black women and Latinas have benefited financially from hair and personal care industries. Additionally, I sought to flesh out the idea of how the beauty salon, a seemingly frivolous place, is in fact a discursive space instilled with much meaning that reflects the social, political, and economic aspects of racialized and gendered notions of beauty and femininity. Ultimately, I argued that hair is a component of racial and gender performance, and I deconstructed and elaborated on its meaning within the context of US racial politics.
*Awarded Highest Honors*
"Fires can't be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our daily work lightens effort and turns even labor into pleasant tasks."
James Baldwin
