Alex received her MSW and PhD from Arizona State University, and her BSW from Winthrop University. She has over ten years of practice experience in the areas of homelessness, neighborhood and community organizing, anti-oppression youth education, and state-level evaluation research. Alex combines these experiences through her research which focuses on LGBTQ youth, community-based practice with LGBTQ youth, participatory action research, and social empathy as a framework for youth empowerment and social justice.