Paula is a part of a genealogy of thinkers & healers.
Paula grew up in Bucharest, Romania to a family who resisted an authoritarian regime and censorship structures. Due to increased scrutiny and harassment, Paula’s family eventually obtained political refugee status in the United States. She arrived to Portland, Oregon as a teen who did not speak English but who loved to learn about others. Motivated by an intuitive curiosity about systems and justice, Paula embarked on a long quest to understand the causes of social inequalities in the U.S.
Paula studied Philosophy and Sociology as an undergraduate at Swarthmore College and continued her studies with Drs. Angela Y. Davis, Neferti Tadiar, George Lipsitz, and Tricia Rose in the History of Consciousness program at University of California, Santa Cruz.
After graduating with a concentration in American Studies, she relocated to the east coast to teach comparative race and ethnicity studies in Ithaca (Upstate), New York.
In 2015, she published her first book, The Emotional Politics of Racism: How Feelings Trump Facts in an Era of Colorblindness (Stanford University Press). The book examines the role of socially shared emotions in contemporary instances of racial violence and discrimination. It argues that people’s emotional perceptions often trump what empirical facts say about social issues. Thus, in understanding and challenging systemic inequities, it is critical to take the unique logics of emotions seriously. In 2019, she co-edited an anthology titled Antiracism Inc.: Why the Way We Talk about Racial Justice Matters (Punctum Books) about new ways of struggling toward racial justice in a world that constantly steals and misuses antiracist ideas and practices.
Paula has always situated her work in community teaching, training, and collaboration toward systems change. Critical of the pervasive ills of mass incarceration, she led two grassroots campaigns against jail expansion in upstate New York. In partnership with the Ultimate Reentry Opportunity (URO) initiative, she helps undergraduate students conduct research on systemic barriers to successful reentry for formerly incarcerated people and is working with employers to adopt fair and inclusive practices for prospective applicants with criminal records.
Since people of color have always pioneered the most astute ideas and activist models against racial and gender oppression, Paula fundamentally believes that equity building must necessarily involve cross-racial and cross-gender collaboration. Because LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming women of color often face interlocking forms of discrimination, she looks especially to their leadership, knowledge, and testimonies for guidance. Indeed, being mentored by extraordinary Black women like Angela Y. Davis and Ruth Wilson Gilmore irrevocably shifted Paula’s understanding of the world and solidified her commitment to racial and gender justice. Paula believes she has a unique responsibility to teach others about systemic injustices. As someone who benefits from various unearned advantages, Paula is committed to leveraging her resources and gifts toward a more equitable and just world.