This episode, we welcome Dr. Kyra Gaunt to the Influential U Podcast.

Dr. Gaunt has been an innovator in the field of ethnomusicology for over twenty years. Ethnomusicology is a discipline that examines how culture shapes musical people versus how musical people like celebrities shape culture. Dr. Gaunt specializes in black girlhood, musical blackness, and digital media studies. Her latest research examines how online music and tech platforms groom girls for patriarchal violence, particularly in girls’ intimate bedroom musical plays from YouTube to TikTok.

Her other accomplishments include being a member of the 2009 inaugural class of TED Fellows and her 2018 TED video “How The Jump Rope Got It’s Rhythm” has over 7 million views with translations in 29 languages and in 2022, she gave her first TED Talk as a Senior Ted Fellow. She is graduate of the entire Influential U curriculum and we're excited to welcome her on this episode.