About

Dr. Shannan Palma (she/ her/ hers) is an award-winning expert in how and why people become invested in stories, symbols, and ideas that are not in their own best interests.

An alum of The OpEd Project, Palma also cohosted Once Upon a Patriarchy, an anti-oppression podcast exploring the long-term impact of Disney’s animated films on adults’ conceptions of gender, race, sexuality, and belonging.

Palma earned her PhD in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with a PhD Certificate in Film and Media Studies from Emory University. Her dissertation, “Tales as Old as Time? Myth, Gender, and the Fairy Tale in American Popular Culture,” won the 2012 Kore Award for Best Dissertation on Women and Mythology. From 2011 through 2018, she successfully pivoted her academic expertise to work in diversity and inclusion and strategic communication. She entered the faculty in 2018 to found a master’s program in writing and digital communication at Agnes Scott College. She left higher ed in 2020 for the nonprofit start-up ecosystem.