Mentorship & Real-World Research Guide Briana Moncayo Campoverde ’25 to PhD Program

Majors: Anthropology and Latin American & Latinx Studies
Minor: Digital Media and Journalism
Cohort Programs/Clubs (e.g., Honors, ACE, Student Council): McNair Achievement Program, Percy Ellis Sutton SEEK (Search for Education, Elevation, & Knowledge) Program; CUNY ICORP (Innovative Career Opportunity and Research Program)
Fellowships/Internships: Vanguard DocMakers Fellow
Mentors: SEEK Director and Chair Erica King-Toler, Ph.D.; SEEK Counselor Schevaletta (Chevy) Alford, Ed.D.; Anthropology Professor Anru Lee, Ph.D.; McNair Associate Director Ernest Lee, Ph.D. 
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Career Aspiration: College Professor
Post-Graduate Plan: University of Pittsburgh Anthropology Doctoral Program

What was life like growing up before John Jay College?
I grew up in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Both of my parents migrated here from Ecuador, but my brothers and I were raised just by our mother. We go back to Ecuador every couple of years for religious holidays and family celebrations, but I consider myself a Brooklyn native. My parents never had the opportunity to get an education, so my mom always taught me that education is the key to success because you can take it anywhere you want. Just getting my high school diploma meant so much to her.

When I was younger, I had to be my own advocate and navigate a lot of my middle and high school decisions by myself because my mother, who worked hard as a seamstress, didn’t know much English. As a family living in a low-income household, we had to find ways to raise money. I used to be ashamed of this, but now I’m proud to say that I was a can collector. My mother would wake me and my oldest brother up at 3:00 in the morning and we’d have this routine of taking plastic bags from the house and playing a game of hide-and-seek where we’d try to find as many cans and bottles as we could. We’d collect cans from the streets, bars, garbage cans, and any other place we could find them. We’d carefully organize and separate everything in our basement and then recycle them because we needed the money to survive. Doing well in school and getting my education felt like the only way out of that system of poverty and breaking the cycle.

Why are you passionate about anthropology?
I’m interested in changing the field of anthropology by shifting the lens through which we look at it. If we look at how anthropology was founded, it was basically white anthropologists looking at different cultures as outsiders. Myself and other scholars are trying to decolonize the field. Why not have people who are from that place, or at least from that region, give their perspective? Then, instead of thinking something is strange, they authentically know that it’s part of the culture and understand why different traditions make people who they are.

What research have you conducted at John Jay?
My first research project was an anthropology project on can collecting and the cycle of poverty. When I did my research, I learned that statistically it was mostly Black and African American people who collected cans, but there was also a growing number of Hispanics becoming can collectors.

As a Vanguard DocMakers Fellow, I studied Mariachi culture and made a film about the musicians. At first, I was worried because I’m not Mexican and these were really famous Mariachi artists, but because I was open with them and respected them, they adopted me into their family. I made these little videos where they’d talk about what they were wearing, what their songs meant, what they loved, and how they viewed their art. I didn’t see them as subjects but as participants in an ethnographic, artistic, research project using all kinds of data.

I also did a research project on graffiti. Growing up, I noticed different tags I repeatedly saw around the neighborhood. Then I started to see how graffiti was becoming commercialized. Companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi were saying that graffiti promoting their products was still authentic because they got neighborhood graffiti writers to do it, but other graffiti artists felt otherwise. I wanted to find out if the graffiti could be authentic to the core even within the production of capitalism.

During my research, I was able to connect with different graffiti crews just by walking up to them and introducing myself. In the beginning, I was a little intimidated because they were male-dominated crews with just a few women coming into their groups. After I told them what I wanted to do, they were like, “Okay, cool. Come hang out with us.” I got to know each individual in the crew and we talked about what it was like doing graffiti in Brooklyn. I learned about different controversies—don’t tell them that graffiti was born in Philadelphia—and the role graffiti played in the aesthetics of gentrification. I also examined masculinity in graffiti crews and how the concept of machismo is reproduced from young adolescence to adulthood.

How have your mentors impacted your educational experience and future goals?
I vividly remember taking “Education for Social Change in the U.S.” with Dr. Chevy Alford and enjoying it so much that I started staying after class to talk to her. There was something about her that I knew she would understand me and help me. One afternoon in her office she asked me, “What do you expect to get out of John Jay?” I told her that I didn’t just want a degree, I didn’t want to be another statistic, I wanted to make an impact with my education. She had this small mirror propped up on a stack of books and she told me to look into the mirror. It felt awkward at first, but then she made me repeatedly say that I was confident and smart and that I could reach my dreams. Afterward, she asked me how I felt. I told her it felt weird. She said that showed I’d never done it before and that I needed to tell myself that more often. She suggested that I start journaling to affirm my goals and boost my confidence.

Dr. Alford became the person that I would go to for anything. She was my first-ever mentor. She was the person I brought my worries to and the person who could help me navigate aspects of my educational journey that my mother couldn’t understand. Even though we came from different ethnic backgrounds, she was a woman and a trailblazer. She was the person who told me about the McNair program and informed me about different opportunities, like studying abroad, that she thought would enrich my education. Dr. Alford listened to me, gave me advice, and helped me step outside of my comfort zone.

What are your plans after graduation?
I will be attending the University of Pittsburgh’s anthropology doctoral program with a $24,000 scholarship. I researched many different programs and reached out to Dr. Stephanie Love at the University of Pittsburgh. She had earned her Ph.D. in linguistic anthropology from the CUNY Graduate Center and responded to me immediately. She told me that she knew how persistent and hardworking CUNY students were, and what a profound impact CUNY had on her life. Dr. Love asked me about my research and goals, and we ended up building a relationship. Through Dr. Love, I got to know the University of Pittsburgh and figured out that it definitely had the mentors I needed to further my education. I know that I’m going to a graduate program that will let me explore anthropology and Hispanic culture with people who want to include everyone at the table. I’m excited to study with professors who are actively trying to decolonize anthropology. Continuing my education in this program will help me deepen my research skills and also support my community and advocate for them.