EVELYN (SHE/HER)

Evelyn brings both deep musical expertise and a heart for service to GR!DSM. A former academic with a Ph.D. in Musicology, she has over 30 years of experience in piano, voice, chamber ensembles, and the occasional garage band. Her academic career explored alternate and compensatory music histories from the margins, with graduate research at the University of Pennsylvania focused on 20th-century Black American music, critical race theory, the recording industry, and trans-Atlantic American pop cultural flows. 

Originally from South Louisiana, she was raised serving others through music. At Tulane University–where she earned her first two B.A.s during and after Hurricane Katrina–community service, the power of music-making in adversity, and the importance of the smallest community ritual entwined. Beyond academia, she’s worked in French translation, archival projects, academic editing, and the non-profit sector, including her current role on staff at Capital City Pride. A lifelong scrutineer of American womanhood, she has also served on advisory committees for body positivity and inclusivity, and on grant review boards for innovative cross-disciplinary work in the Humanities. 

Now she channels that experience into uplifting girls, trans, and non-binary youth by amplifying unheard voices and contributing any way she can (including sharing Louisiana cooking) to the warm community fostered by GR!DSM.