In Fall 2020 I applied to join the project “Deaths in Custody”, a community initiated project that the lab was working on. I had a lot of emotion and energy that I didn’t know what to do with after the death of George Floyd and a tumultuous summer. I previously didn’t know that research could be done on the things that I cared about. It ended up being a challenging project that also offered a lot healing since I knew the work would be helpful to the community. CE valued me, my voice, my work, and gave me an amazing community of people who balance the stark inequities we research with joy and laughter.