In the eye of the beholder: Body weight misperceptions among African Americans living in Kentucky

Abstract

Body weight status misperception, perceiving one’s self to be thinner than one’s body mass index (BMI), is growing in the United States. At risk for lifestyle-related disease, African Americans face more dire consequences with respect to this misperception than others. In a sample of African American Kentuckians, we found a moderate level of body weight status misperception. Educational attainment was the strongest predictor of body weight status misperception, with more education associated with less misperception. These findings suggest that health communication for African Americans should address body weight status misperception and be tailored for individuals’ level of educational attainment.

Introduction

Obesity and overweight are serious health issues, with the prevalence of adult obesity in the U.S. nearing 40% (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2017). Yet, Naghshizadian and colleagues (2014) note that many people underestimate their own body weight. Body weight status misperception is defined as occurring when one’s weight perception differs from objectively measured reality (Sarafrazi et al., 2014). What is more alarming is that despite on-going efforts by national, regional, and local agencies to address obesity, our collective weight continues to rise (CDC, 2017). Research also shows that body weight misperception has increased as well. Specifically, data show that an increasing number of overweight individuals misclassify their weight, perceiving themselves to be less overweight than their biometric data reveal (Johnson-Taylor et al., 2008). Because body weight status misperception has been found to be a determinant of persistently high and increasing body mass index (BMI) (Lemon et al., 2009), further research into this important, culturally-dependent health determinant is prudent.

Research from the fields of communication and psychology include body weight status perception as part, but not all, of the construction of one’s own body image. Cash and Pruzinsky (2004) define body image as composed of body weight status perception and attitudes. Thus, additional factors, such as beliefs about one’s own appearance, feelings about one’s body shape and size, and perceptions of embodiment all contribute to the development of one’s complete body image (Mountford & Koskina, 2015). Additionally, the cognitive process of social comparison has been identified as an important factor underlying attitude formation and thereby contributing to the overall understanding of body image formulation (Brodie & Slade, 1988; Tiggemann, 2004).

Festinger (1954) first identified that people engage in social comparison during attitude formation, while Botta (1999) noted that such comparisons can happen naturally without a person’s full awareness of the process. Within the context of body image and cultural research, social comparison can result in negative consequences to one’s health, particularly when an upward comparison is made to an idealised body image (Botta, 1999; Newman & Dodd, 1995). This situation has been labeled body image disturbance (Cash & Pruzinsky, 2004) and has generally been associated with anorexia and bulimia nervosa (Kilbourne, 1994).

Social comparison does not always result in body image disturbance. Festinger (1954) and Wills (1981) suggested that the motive for social comparison (e.g., self-evaluation, self-improvement, self-enhancement) can influence whether an individual experiences poor health outcomes. Research has also shown that different comparison targets result in different consequences (Martin & Gentry, 1997). Helgeson and Mickelson (1995) noted that when common bonding (i.e., creating bonds with others) was a motive for social comparison, peers became the target (a lateral comparison) rather than an upward idealised image from the media.

Body image in the African American population

There is ample evidence that racial identity moderates body image development processes, especially among women. Botta (2000) found that Black women’s body perceptions and satisfaction were less affected by upward social comparison than White women’s body perceptions and satisfaction. Two main explanations were posited for this finding. First, Botta noted that most female body images found in the media were White, suggesting that Black women may have discounted images in the media due to incongruent racial identification. Second, the women in the study may have held different ideal body shape standards than those depicted by the media, suggesting that common bonding prompted lateral social comparisons. Botta’s findings corroborated racial differences in body image noted by Kemper et al. (1994) in their study of college-aged women. Richmond and associates (2012) noted a similar trend in their longitudinal data from 1994 to 2002, reporting that Black women rated increasing BMI over time as more attractive rather than less attractive (as was the case in other races). More recently, Thomas and colleagues (2013) found that Black women in mid-life had higher BMIs than White women but were significantly less likely to indicate that they thought they weighed too much. In this study, Black women were also 14 times more likely than White women to say they weighed too little. Similarly, Watson et al. (2013) found that a strong multiculturally-inclusive racial identity can serve to shield African American/Black female college students from negative body image and disordered eating behavior.

Recent studies have looked directly at African Americans’ levels of body weight misperception. Smalley, Warren, and Morrissey (2017) found that rural, economically disadvantaged African American patients with diabetes and/or hypertension were nearly twice as likely than their White counterparts to underestimate their actual weight. Men were also noted to be more likely than women (across both racial groups) to underestimate their weight. Naghshizadian and colleagues (2014), in their sample of Hispanic and African American/Black outpatient clinic participants, found that those with a higher measured BMI were more likely to identify an inflated ideal BMI target than those with lower measured BMI. Both of these studies, however, were conducted with individuals receiving some sort of health care from a clinic or care center.

Given that obesity interventions have been less effective in African American communities than in White communities (Wingo, Carson & Ard, 2014), more studies are needed to expand our understanding of the existence and extent of body weight misperception within the general African American community. Additionally, despite several studies focused on racial differences in body image and perception among women, few studies have investigated the link between gender and body weight perceptions in the African American population.

Health communication

On a national level, 47% of Non-Hispanic Black adults are obese (Hales et al., 2017). Furthermore, African American/Black adults in the U.S. continue to have an increased risk for obesity and obesity-related chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and stroke (Benjamin et al., 2019). Especially concerning is the fact that these health problems are starting at younger ages in the African American population, as compared to Whites (CDC, 2017). Given this reality, the issue of underestimation of one’s weight status is a more serious concern among African American communities.

From a health communication perspective, the first line treatment for obesity is the promotion of health behaviour change, often through comprehensive lifestyle interventions (Jensen et al., 2014). These interventions are commonly based on models that predicate behaviour change on a person’s perceived susceptibility to a disease. The health belief model is one such model, in which perceived susceptibility to a disease is an important antecedent to individual health behaviours (Skinner, Tiro, & Champion, 2015). It then follows that if people who are overweight or obese underestimate their body weight status they may not realise that they are at an increased risk of developing several chronic illnesses, which could undermine health communication campaigns’ effectiveness and health care providers’ recommendations. Furthermore, underestimation of weight among overweight and obese adults in the U.S. is associated with decreased likelihood of wanting to lose weight and decreased attempts to lose weight (Duncan et al., 2011). Therefore, it stands to reason that body image may be one factor that contributes to racial disparities in obesity and obesity-related chronic illnesses among African American adults in the U.S.

Study purpose

According to the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky (2016), almost 67% of Kentuckians are overweight or obese, which is higher than the national rate of 64%, and more likely to be overweight than their White counterparts. Proportionally, the African American population in Louisville and Hopkinsville are two of the highest in the state: 23.5% and 30%, respectively (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018). Given the rates of obesity among African American Kentuckians, the current study sought to confirm that body weight status misperception exists within a community-based sample of African Americans. Although other studies have assessed body image in predominantly African American samples (Naghshizadian et al., 2014; Smalley, Warren, & Morrissey, 2017), there is a paucity of data focused on body weight status misperception in an overweight adult African American community-based sample. Assuming our ability to confirm the existence of body weight status misperception, we also sought to determine whether differences existed with respect to gender. Finally, we tested possible demographic determinants of body weight status misperception such as age, income, educational attainment, and food assistance in order to better inform public health and health communication efforts about the unique aspects of the African American population in Kentucky.

Materials and Methods

Study design

Data for this study were collected as part of a grant focused on chronic disease prevention among African Americansⁱ living in Kentucky (Della et al., 2016). All participants identified as either Hispanic Black or Non-Hispanic Black, did not live on a military base, were older than 18 years of age, reported a weight corresponding to a BMI of 25 or greater for his or her height (i.e., overweight or heavier), and lived in Louisville or Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The present analysis pooled information from two data collection instruments (a computer-based survey and a paper-and -pencil demographic survey). These data collection instruments were deployed with the same participants in succession of one another (i.e., on the same day), with the computer-based survey administered prior to the demographic survey. A common participant identification number was used to track individuals across the screening process, the computer survey, and the demographic survey. All participants were provided an IRB-approved survey preamble to review. If they agreed to continue participating in the study, they were screened for the inclusion criteria mentioned above.

Sample

A cross-sectional, nonprobability sample of African American residents was gathered in both Louisville and Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The research team collected data at locales in each community where people tended to naturally congregate (e.g., churches, barbershops). Because some of the research team members were from African American neighborhoods in Louisville and Hopkinsville, the extended social networks of these individuals helped to facilitate access to community events and local businesses. Although not a probability sampling approach, this tailored, community-based data collection technique has been found to yield representative samples in predominantly African American communities where trust of outsiders and researchers is low (Owens, Calvin, & Friedman, 2017).

In total, 366 individuals completed both surveys (n = 150 in Louisville; n = 216 in Hopkinsville). About two-thirds of participants were female (69%) and one-third male (31%). The average age was 42±15.5, ranging from 18 to 89 years old. Despite our nonprobability sampling approach, these average sample characteristics reflect those reported in U.S. Census Bureau (2018) data for Louisville and Hopkinsville. Average BMI was 33.9±7.0 and ranged up to 66.6, with a woman reporting her height as 4 feet 11 inches and weight of 330 pounds.

Measures

The survey instruments developed for this study measured variables of interest: body weight perception, height, weight, gender identification and sociodemographic variables (i.e., income, educational attainment, receipt of food assistance).

Body Weight Perception

To obtain a measure of body weight perception, we asked a universal indicator question: How do you describe your weight? Are you…? Responses were provided on a 5-point Likert-type scale reflecting, 1) very underweight, 2) underweight, 3) about the right weight for my size, 4) overweight, and 5) very overweight. A universal measurement of body weight perception is in line with other studies on this topic (Wang, Liang, & Chen, 2009).

Body Mass Index

Body mass index was calculated from direct self-reports of height and weight. Participants entered these data in the computer-based survey, which allowed for more anonymity than if participants had been asked directly for these data. Participants’ data were later grouped into “overweight” (BMI of 25.0–29.9), “obese” (30.0–39.9), and “extreme obesity” (BMI of 40+), as defined by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (2000).

Body Weight Status Misperception

A “discrepancy” variable was created to measure the amount of body weight status misperception. This variable aligned respondents’ body weight perception responses with their actual BMI category to identify the extent of the difference between these two variables. In this process, body weight perception responses of “very underweight” and “underweight” on the response scale were collapsed together to better match up with the BMI category of “underweight”. Once the data were recoded, each participant’s BMI category was subtracted from his or her body weight perception response to provide a “discrepancy” indicator.

Analyses

We ran a simple cross tabulation to determine the general distribution of actual BMI category versus body weight perception. A chi-square tested the extent of body weight status misperception and Cramer’s V measured effect size. A stronger effect was interpreted to represent less misperception as the association between actual BMI and the body weight perception would be more congruent in this case.

To test our follow-up hypothesis, we used the discrepancy variable as the outcome variable in an independent samples t-test of gender differences. Finally, the discrepancy variable was used as an outcome variable to test relationships with age, income, receipt of food assistance (as identified via a dummy variable) and educational attainment via correlation analyses.

Results

Based on their self-reported height and weight, about 35% (n = 129) of respondents were classified as having an overweight BMI, 46% (n = 168) as obese, and 19% (n = 69) as extremely obese. In contrast, 10% (n = 37) of respondents reported themselves to be underweight and 22% (n = 80) reported themselves to be about the right weight for their size. This result is interesting because we screened for overweight individuals as part of the study’s inclusion criteria. Nevertheless, most participants reported that they were overweight (46%) (n = 169) and some even indicated that they viewed themselves as very overweight (22%) (n = 80).

The chi-square test for BMI and body weight perception was statistically significant, χ² = 117.6(6), p = .000. The calculated Cramer’s V, however, was only .401. Given that Cramer’s V can range from 0 to 1.0, an effect size of .401 supports the idea that many participants did not accurately assess their body weight.

The majority of our participants held an inaccurate perception of their weight status. Most participants (51.1%) slightly underestimated their BMI category. That is, they received a discrepancy score of −1.0, which indicates they selected a perception response that was one category thinner than their actual BMI group (see Table 1). What might be more concerning is that 13.1% received a weight status discrepancy score of −2 while 5.5% and 2.7% received a weight status discrepancy score of −3 and −4, respectively. Only 26.8% accurately classified their weight status.

Table 1:

Body weight status misperception distribution

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent
Weight Status Discrepancy Score	−4.00	10	2.7	2.7
	−3.00	20	5.5	5.5
	−2.00	48	13.1	13.1
	−1.00	187	51.1	51.1
	.00	98	26.8	26.8
	1.00	3	.8	.8
	Total	366	100.0	100.0

Note: The weight status discrepancy score was calculated as the difference between body weight perception and the BMI category. A score of .00 reflects a state of accurate perception (i.e., BMI aligned with weight perception). Misaligned perceptions are represented by scores above or below .00. A positive score reflects respondents who viewed themselves as at least one category heavier than their BMI, while a negative score reflects respondents who viewed themselves at least one category thinner than their BMI.

Figure 1 helps to illustrate the groups that accurately assessed their own body weight status. The bars with extra thick outlines identify participants who gave responses to the body weight status perception question that accurately aligned with their actual BMI categories.

Figure 1:

Distribution of respondents from various BMI categories (overweight, obese, extremely obese) across the various body weight status perception response options.

Tests of body weight status misperception determinants

We tested our follow-up hypothesis concerning gender and found no significant difference between men and women’s body weight status misperception scores, t = .785(361), p =.433. Among the additional demographic variables tested, age was not significantly related to body weight status misperception, r = .049(364), p = .346. However, we did find significant correlations between body weight status misperception and educational attainment, household income, and receipt of some sort of food assistance: r = .129(349), p = .016 and r = .105(346), p = .049, r = .121(321), p = .030, respectively. Given that these variables are indicators of socioeconomic status, we attempted to isolate the most significant driver of body weight status misperception. We ran a post hoc stepwise regression analysis with educational attainment, income, and receipt of food assistance as predictors of the discrepancy variable. After multicollinearity between the predictors was parsed out, only educational attainment remained a significant predictor of body weight status misperception (see Table 2). The relationship with educational attainment was positive (standardised beta = .122), meaning higher levels of education were associated with more accurate body weight perceptions.

Table 2:

Stepwise regression analysis with socioeconomic status variables as predictors of body weight status misperception

	Discrepancy between BMI and body weight perception
Variables in the Equation	B	SE B	95% CI	β
Constant	−1.414	.182	[−1.772, −1.055]
Educational Attainment	.108*	.05	[.010, .206]	.122*
Adjusted R2	.012
F	4.737*

Note: N = 315. CI = confidence interval

^*p < .05

Discussion

The present study contributes to the literature on body weight perception among overweight African Americans in three significant ways. It confirms others’ research suggesting a body weight status misperception among many African Americans. It identifies educational attainment as a significant factor related to the magnitude of misperception. It also suggests additional research is needed to determine the effect of gender on misperceptions, as we were unable to confirm an effect in our sample.

The results described here expand previous work indicating an inconsistency between African Americans’ body weight self-perception and their standardised-BMI weight category (e.g., Hendley et al., 2011). Our study, which collected data from men and women in a community-based setting rather than a clinical one, showed that most participants slightly underestimated their BMI category. More than one fifth (21.3%), however, largely underestimated their BMI, selecting a perception response at least two categories thinner than their actual BMI group.

Our results may be explicated by the body image literature, which posits that individuals motivated by common bonding, rather than a thin ideal, engage in culturally-oriented social lateral comparison in which they compare themselves to their peers in their own social, racial, and/or cultural group. Research by Sohn (2010) supports the import of the attitudinal component of body image. It examined the motives of social comparison in the body image development process among a racially diverse sample and identified that common bonding was the initial motive for engaging in social comparison for women. Robinson and Kersbergen (2017) note that the process of lateral comparison initiated by a common bonding motive can produce negative health consequences when the lateral group for social comparison is, itself, overweight. This situation may be more acute in African American communities where the prevalence of overweight and obesity is one of the highest in the country. Thus, social lateral comparison may help explain how African American adults develop an inaccurate perception of their body weight status (Robinson & Kersbergen, 2017; Ver Ploeg, Chang, & Lin, 2012). Future research should continue to investigate the role that common bonding may play in African American communities’ perception of weight and body image.

Similarly, Granberg, Simons, and Simons (2009) suggest that when female African American adolescents compare their body sizes with peers from within their own racial group (i.e., lateral social comparison) using a common bonding-based comparison motive, they are more likely to perceive a favorable self-evaluation of their body weight than they would when comparing themselves to adolescents who are not African American. This contextual explanation corroborates previous qualitative and experimental research findings, where close friends were identified as important sources of healthy eating information and curvier media personalities (e.g., Rachel Ray) were discussed as likeable and relatable food preparation referents (Smith et al., 2013). The idea that common bonding, and specifically a lateral comparison motive, may influence body image perceptions for African Americans raises the concern that overweight and obese African Americans may be less likely to acknowledge susceptibility to obesity related health conditions, and therefore, be less likely to change their lifestyle behaviours in an attempt to lose weight. It also simultaneously suggests that African Americans may be insulated from the negative health consequences that some White individuals experience when striving for an idealised body image.

When predicting accurate weight perceptions, educational attainment was the strongest predictor, which is consistent with previous evidence (Clouston, Manganello, & Richards, 2017). Moreover, educational attainment and economic stability are widely accepted as social determinants of health, influencing access to health care, healthy food, and opportunities for safe physical activity (CDC, 2018). Evidence from national epidemiological data suggests that higher educational attainment, specifically obtaining a college degree, and higher household income are associated with lower rates of adult obesity (Ogden et al., 2017). The current study’s findings supports others’, such as Dorsey, Eberhardt, and Ogden (2009), who observed that individuals with less than a high school education were 5.5 times more likely to hold inaccurate perceptions of their body weight than individuals with some college education. Recently, Bell and Blackman Carr (2020), who studied a national sample of White versus Black women, found an association between weight misperception and race in a group of non-college educated women but failed to find the same association in college-educated women. Bell and Blackman Carr call for a “nuanced, intersectional approach” (p. 973) to racial disparities related to overweight and obesity – one that we echo in our assessment of this finding as well.

Additionally, Yamamiya and colleagues (2005) identified an indirect relationship between knowledge and social comparison, suggesting that health communication addressing the influence of the cultural nature of common bonding on weight mis/perceptions could be an important campaign message point. Coupling the idea of common bonding with the strength of the educational relationship in this sample suggests that health communicators should look to engage educated African American community members of normal weight status to help deliver messages that promote healthy weight management behaviour to African Americans with lower levels of educational attainment. Public health interventions have often employed prominent community members, such as church pastors, to help deliver health-related messages in African American communities (Wingood et al., 2019), but other healthy weight community members might also serve to bolster public health messaging. Further, health communicators may need to tailor messages to different education segments of the African American population. For less educated individuals, messages might focus on shifting weight perceptions to reflect healthier body size through the mechanism of common bonding so as to avoid creating shame or stigma. Careful attention to the use of plain language and health literacy will likely impact the success of such efforts. For more highly educated individuals, messages might be focused on confirming normal weight status as healthy and encouraging continued weight maintenance behaviour.

Finally, we were surprised by the lack of a significant gender effect in our sample. Past research on racial differences in body image disturbance led us to predict that men and women would differ in their levels of body weight status misperception (e.g., Hendley et al., 2011). Although we failed to find a gender effect, our analysis may have been underpowered by the imbalanced sample sizes for women and men. The lack of a significant gender effect in our data points to the conclusion that African American men, and particularly those in Kentucky, should be included in additional studies that explore body image. Given that African American men’s health is an understudied issue in general, more replication of research is needed. Scholars point to the Tuskegee Experiment as one reason for this gap, noting that African American men still do not receive the health knowledge and treatment that they need (Spence & Oltmanns, 2011).

Limitations

Despite the study’s broad conclusions, several limitations exist. First, this study was conducted using a convenience sample of African Americans, which resulted in a larger representation of women as compared with men. Therefore, results may not be fully representative of body weight status misperception among the African American male population. Future researchers may want to focus more specifically on this subgroup of the community. Additionally, the study only explored the impact of socioeconomic factors on body weight status misperception, and it parsed out these effects using a post hoc analysis. Future research should seek to confirm the findings noted here with respect to educational attainment, as well as include other aspects of cultural capital within African American communities.

Conclusion

Overall, this study lends credence to the need for a more nuanced assessment of body image development processes within African American populations, especially with respect to body weight status misperception’s influence on the persistence of chronic disease in African American communities. Future health communication efforts need to be tailored for education level and consider the misperception issues that can arise from a common bonding motive in order to address obesity-related health disparities in African American communities.

Author Bios

Lindsay J. Della (Ph.D. University of Georgia) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Louisville. She is also a Research Associate for the Institute for Intercultural Communication at the University of Louisville, USA. She has served as Principal Investigator on nationally funded grants from the National Institutes of Health, which have addressed culturally relevant communication strategies for the prevention of cancer and heart disease through increased fruit and vegetable consumption. Dr. Della is a health communicator with an emphasis on the design of lifestyle-based health improvement campaigns. She earned her doctorate in Health Promotion and Behavior from the University of Georgia’s College of Public Health. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Louisville, she completed fellowships with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) as postdoctoral training. Dr. Della also holds a master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communication from Northwestern University and worked in market research, where she served clients such as CDC and health-focused nonprofit organizations.

Steve H. Sohn (Ph.D. University of Connecticut) is a Director of Graduate Studies and Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Louisville, USA. He has authored and co-authored several articles, as well as presented his research at national and international conferences on the effects of mass media, particularly advertising, on body image disturbances.

Siobhan E. Smith-Jones (Ph.D. University of Missouri) is associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Louisville. She is also a proud graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana and Louisiana State University. Her current research interests include explorations of African American women as interpretive communities. She teaches courses in mass media, race, culture, fandom, and media literacy. She co-authored a special edition of Women & Language with Dr. Karla Scott and Dr. Cerise Glenn, which focused on FLOTUS Michelle Obama. She was co-investigator on a $397,000 National Institutes of Health grant with Dr. Lindsay Della, Dr. Margaret D’Silva, and other professors at the University of Louisville. She has served on the Board of the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender, and as Secretary and Chair of the Nominating Committee of the Mass Communication Division of the National Communication Association. She is Past President of the Kentucky Communication Association, and received the OSCLG Feminist Mentor Teacher of the Year Award in 2017.

Margaret U. D’Silva (Ph.D. University of Kentucky) is Professor and Chair, Department of Communication Studies, University of Alabama, USA. She was previously Professor of Communication and Director of the Institute for Intercultural Communication at the University of Louisville, USA. She received her education both in India and the United States. Dr. D’Silva was an invited plenary speaker for academic conferences in Chicago, USA (2018), Taipei, Taiwan (2012) and Vladivostok, Russia (2013) and invited presenter in Oslo, Norway (2008). Widely published, she recently co-edited, with Ahmet Atay, Intercultural Communication, Identity, and Social Movements in the Digital Age (2020, Routledge). She is President (2019–2021) of the International Association for Intercultural Communication Studies.

Kimberly R. Hartson Ph.D., R.N., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Louisville, School of Nursing. Inspired by her clinical experience as a neuroscience and stroke nurse, Dr. Hartson’s research interests include health promotion and lifestyle modification for the prevention of chronic illnesses. Most recently, her research has focused on understanding the gap between intention and physical activity behavior, and exploring the roles of stress and resilience as they relate to well-being among young adults. She teaches community health nursing didactic and clinical, as well as nursing research for evidence-based practice in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at the University of Louisville. Dr. Hartson earned her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, College of Nursing, with a focus in biobehavioral sciences.

Morohunfolu J. Seton earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication from Covenant University, Nigeria and a Bachelor of Social Science degree (Honours) from Monash South Africa. Ms. Seton is currently rounding up her master’s program in Communication at the University of Louisville (UofL), USA. She has worked with several faculty members as a graduate assistant and is currently teaching public speaking for the Department of Communication at UofL. Her research interests include the role and effects of media, representations in media and their implications, cultural studies, African studies, body image, and religion in film. She is currently working on her master’s thesis, which examines the representation of immigrants in American reality television. In the past, she has worked in media, advertising and public relations in Nigeria, and is proficient in strategic public relations, communications management, media appearances and relations, and digital marketing. She has earned professional qualifications in Digital Marketing and Google Adwords. She has worked with HYBR as the Communications Manager, and with Temple Management Company as a public relations executive.