Born and raised in North Carolina, he received his BA in Women’s Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999 before spending three years working full-time in the U.S. rape crisis movement as a Community Educator and Crisis Advocate. Dr. Ezzell returned to UNC-Chapel Hill to pursue graduate studies in sociology with a focus on race/class/gender inequality, interpersonal violence, and critical media studies. He completed his PhD in 2009 and joined the faculty of JMU at that time. He has been active in anti-violence movement(s) for two decades.