Moya Bailey is a graduate of the Emory University Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department. She is interested in how race, gender, and sexuality are represented in media and medicine. She is the founder and co-conspirator of Quirky Black Girls, a network for strange and different black girls and now serves at the digital alchemist for the Octavia E. Butler Legacy Network.

She attended Spelman College where she initially endeavored to become a physician. She fell in love with Women’s Studies and activism, ultimately driving her to graduate school in lieu of medicine. As an undergrad she received national attention for her involvement in the “Nelly Protest” at Spelman, a moment that solidified her deep commitment to examining representations of Black women in popular culture.

In her first semester of teaching at Emory, Moya was awarded the “Unsung Heroine Award,” which was presented to her by the Center for Women based on nominations from her students. She is an active member of the Southeastern Women’s Studies Association and National Women’s Studies Association. As a frequent organizer of the Shawty Got Skillz session at the annual Allied Media Conference, Moya is able to bridge her passion for social justice and her work in the digital humanities.