Nicole Veronica Bush is a 5th-year doctoral candidate and critical communications scholar at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism who studies Black women's activism, affective labor, sex work, and Instagram. Nicole is interested in how Black women and femme activists' digital labor practices constitute an affective discursive structure that allows this group of activists to further their social movements and create more liveable lives for themselves and others in this late-stage capitalist moment. Nicole is working on her dissertation under the guidance of her co-chairs, UPenn Annenberg Dean Sarah Banet-Weiser and Allissa Richardson, founder of the USC Charlotta Bass Journalism and Justice lab. Nicole will receive her doctorate in Communication with a certificate in Gender and Sexuality Studies in the Spring of 2025.

Nicole graduated from Pepperdine University in 2017 with a Master of Arts in Strategic Communication. She also holds her Master of Communication Management from the University of Southern California (2010) and received her BA in English from Georgetown University (2009). Nicole's work has been included in the handbook, The Rhetoric of Social Movements: Networks, Power, and New Media (Crick et al., 2020), as well as in the Journal of Children and Media. Nicole has presented her work at the International Communication Association Conference, the National Communication Association Conference, and the Cultural Studies Association Conference, and recently organized a panel for the International Association of Media and Communication Researcher Conference in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Beyond her academic pursuits, Nicole is deeply passionate about movement and the collective wellbeing of her community. As a nationally certified Pilates and meditation instructor, she actively promotes physical and mental wellbeing for other Black women and femmes in her community. Nicole understands that our communities desperately need care in this unique moment of human history. Through her research and practical engagement, she aims to promote new ways of thinking about and understanding social media activism, community care, and well-being in this late-stage capitalist moment. You can connect with her at www.nicolevbush.com.