Jade Abston

Jade Abston (she/her) is a media professional and educator born and raised in Washington D.C. For several years, she has worked worked at television networks creating digital media while also teaching undergraduate media studies and new media courses with a dedication to a diverse curriculum for over 10 years. Currently she is working as a graduate student researcher and co-author for the UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report for the Entertainment and Media Research Initiative under the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, which examines the relationship between the bottom line in the Hollywood entertainment industry and diversity.

Her dissertation examines music videos and visual albums as a popular medium that allows Black women agency in their performance and world-building by developing narratives and aesthetics rooted in black feminist praxis.

Research Interests

Black Feminism, popular culture, Black popular culture, popular music studies, black visual culture, sound studies

Selected accomplishments and professional work

Abston, Jade (2025) “ti esrever dna ti pilf, nwod gniht ym tuP”: Missy Elliot Queering the Video Vixen Trope.” paper presented at the Popular Culture Association National Conference in New Orleans.

Peer Review, Define American: Change the Narrative, Change the World: The Power of Immigrant Representation on Television, USC Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project (2022)

Graduate Council Diversity Fellowship (2022)

Inclusive Teaching Fellow (2022)

Education

Ph.D., Cinema and Media Studies, UCLA (in progress)
M.A., Cinema and Media Studies, UCLA
M.A, Communication Arts, NYIT
B.A., Communication, Cedar Crest College

Curriculum Vitae

Jade Abston CV