Bri Lafond (she/her)

Bri Lafond is a fifth-year PhD student in the Center for Writing Studies affiliated with the English department and the department of Gender and Women's Studies. She is currently the Assistant Director of the Center for Writing Studies and the Assistant Director for the Writers Workshop. 

Her work focuses on the intersections between digital and queer rhetorics, specifically in the form of multimedia production by social media content creators. Her dissertation project explores the multimodal content production processes of YouTubers. She is also interested more broadly in how identities (especially queer identities) are mediated through digital platforms, particulary in cases that involve intentional deception (i.e., catfishing).

Before coming to the University of Illinois, Bri earned her MA in Composition with dual emphases in Literature and Applied Linguistics/TESL from California State University, San Bernardino. She has previously worked as an adjunct composition and rhetoric instructor for both Cal State and the Riverside Community College District; she has also worked in writing centers in various capacities since 2006.