Jasmine Sanders is a sociology PhD student at UC Berkeley. Her research centers issues of equity and access with a focus on organizational inequality, culture, and workplace policies and practices. Her most recent master’s thesis interrogates how organizational policies create and maintain inequality through the lens of sports by exploring the decline in first-generation college students on NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams. Her proposed dissertation research draws upon social capital and networks theory to examine the role of extracurricular work activities, like happy hours and holiday parties, in career advancement. Jasmine has contributed to research exploring organizational belonging in the workplace, gendered conceptions of work-life balance in tech companies, and reproductive rights as a business imperative.
Prior to pursuing doctoral studies, Jasmine was a Teach For America corps member where she taught high school English in Atlanta, and was a researcher at the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. She has earned a BA in English from Spelman College, and master’s degrees in sociology and education from Columbia University and sociology from UC Berkeley. As a native of Mobile, Alabama, Jasmine is an avid sports fan, so in her spare time you can find her watching football and basketball games. She also loves reading and started a monthly book club centering Black women authors.