About Me
I’m Gia! I’m a curious, compassionate, and justice-oriented researcher, facilitator, and human. I’m a very social introvert and am blessed with a radiant, insightful, beautiful community. I go to a yearly post-apocalyptic event in the Mojave Desert where I run a very successful board game cafe. It is my greatest joy and a significant source of community and purpose in my life. I grew up a city kid with little access to nature, and am developing that relationship now as an adult.
I studied Counseling and Health Psychology at Emmanuel College, with a minor in Gender Studies. I took courses in photography, music, and media studies as electives. I was a resident assistant and alto in the a capella group For Good Measure. During this time, I became interested in research and served as a research assistant for Dr. Clare Mehta. I studied how gender shaped online interactions and friendships. I graduated from Emmanuel College in December 2013.
My first job was at a residential eating disorder recovery center where I provided emotional support and facilitated therapy groups for teenage girls and women. I then worked at a day shelter, where I worked with unhoused and reentering adults on job search and life skill development. This was my favorite job I ever had, but I became interested in graduate school and left to get more experience in data. Prior to graduate school, I was a managed internal evaluation and data for program grants for a network of shelters and services for low income women and families.
In 2018 I started graduate school at Clark University in Worcester, MA. I studied social psychology. During my time at Clark, I focused on understanding experiences of underresearched victims of interpersonal violence, LGBTQ* people, men, and those who were abused by a woman. I also continued my undergraduate line of research on gender shaping relationships.
It was also important to me that I stay connected to community work during graduate school. I did a summer internship at Girls Inc. Worcester in their evaluation department. Later, I volunteered at The Network / La Red in Boston as a Community Engagement Volunteer. I also took courses with an applied focus including public health and policy courses, social network analysis, and data visualization. I was also very active in forming the Clark University Graduate Workers Union and was a part of the bargaining committee that negotiated our first contract.
I received my PhD in Social Psychology from Clark University in May 2025. My dissertation was a grounded theory study of the relationship between survivorship and having abolitionist beliefs, with an emphasis on healing and antiracism.
I currently serve as the Gender Inclusivity Coordinator for the Association for Women in Psychology and am a part of a network of brilliant feminist psychologists.
Gia Davis, PhD 