Ebonie grew up in Dallas, Texas, where she attended a performing and visual arts high school and explored painting, drawing, printmaking, and a few ill-fated attempts at soldering jewelry. It was an AP Art History course that set her compass—on the first day of college at Washington University in St. Louis, she declared the major and never looked back.

Though she had initially planned to double major in Studio Art, Ebonie pivoted early on to pursue a broader range of opportunities. Sticking with Art History allowed her to become a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellow, French language devotee, two-time Parisian student abroad, Smithsonian intern, Phi Beta Kappa inductee, and award-winning thesis writer—all before graduating summa cum laude.

After college, Ebonie moved to Miami to work as a curatorial assistant at an art museum, where she also began helping students as a freelance editor and college essay coach. She took the GRE in June 2020 while battling a raging fever, but still managed a 99th percentile score—and promptly accepted an offer to join the PhD program in the History of Art & Architecture at Harvard University.

These days, she’s based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she researches Black American women sculptors, teaches, and writes. Though Cambridge winters are a far cry from Florida beaches, Ebonie finds warmth in her studies, teaching, and belief that art—like life—is best understood from multiple perspectives.