Hello,
I am a qualitative data scientist with a PhD in Sociology. I co-founded an MIT-based nonprofit and two R&D studios in the last 12 years. I am currently researching identity and clothing and am building social theory in symbolic interaction, organizations, sustainability, and consumption. I am the founder of the embodied regenerative clothing brand, Herderin.
Education
PhD, Sociology ─ Brandeis University, 2019
Qualified Areas: Medical Sociology, Work and Occupations, Organizations
MS, Sociology ─ Virginia Commonwealth University, 2012
Areas: Medical Sociology, Economic Sociology, Public Sociology
BA, Liberal Arts ─ The New School, 2009
Concentration: Democracy & Cultural Pluralism
Internships: MSNBC, Change.org, Democracy In Action
Research
Primary Investigator ─ Clothing The Self III: Embodied Dressing and Visual Self-Monitoring: A Study of Everyday Life Without Mirrors. San Francisco - Bay Area, California, 2026.
Primary Investigator ─ Clothing The Self II: Identity Reconstruction and Ontological Security When Primary Material Resources Are Compromised. San Francisco - Bay Area, California, 2026.
Primary Investigator ─ Clothing The Self: Material Resources, Reflexive Identity Work, and the Social Dimensions of Everyday Dressing. San Francisco - Bay Area, California, 2025.
Data Scientist ─ Qualitative research and analysis, 2019-present.
Dissertation ─ Misfit: The Impact of Mismatched Jobs on Creative Workers and The Organizations That Employ Them, Brandeis University, 2019.
Primary Investigator ─ The Emotional Experience of the Job Search, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Brandeis University, 2013-15.
Research Associate ─ The Institute for Career Transitions, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013-15.
Research Associate ─ Design for a Fragile Population: A Palliative Care Alzheimer's Residence, Harvard Graduate School of Design, 2014.
Research Associate ─ The Massachusetts Health & Relationships Project, University of Texas, 2013-14.
Research Assistant ─ Colorectal Cancer Study II, National Institute of Health. Virginia Commonwealth University, Case Western University, 2011-12.
Master’s Thesis ─ Choosing Surgical Birth: Personal Choice and Medical Jurisdiction, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2010-12.
Teaching
Adjunct Faculty ─ Sociology Department, University of San Francisco, 2023 - present
Introduction to Sociology | Sex & Sexualities | Sociology of Innovation | Social Problems | Career Exploration | Sociology of Health
Adjunct Faculty ─ Historical and Social Studies Department, Mills College, 2019 - 2020
Medical Sociology | Public Health | Introduction to Sociology
Teaching Fellow ─ Department of Sociology, Brandeis University, 2012-18.
Social Class & Social Change | Culture & Consumption | Health, Community & Society
Adjunct Faculty ─ Experiential Learning, Brandeis University, 2013-15.
Media and Politics
Adjunct Faculty ─ Department of Sociology, Drexel University, 2015-17. Online Courses.
Sociology of Aging | Social Problems | Introductory Sociology | Wealth & Power
Adjunct Faculty ─ Division of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, John Tyler Community College,
2011-12.
Introduction to Sociology
Adjunct Faculty ─ School of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community
College, 2011-12.
Introduction to Sociology | Introduction to Anthropology
Graduate Teaching Assistant ─ Department of Sociology, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2010-12.
Advanced Graduate Research Methods | Medical Sociology | Sociology of Gender | Sociological Theory | Introductory Sociology
Community
Delegate – Democratic Socialist Association of Marin, 2025 - present.
Member — Marin-Sonoma Impact Ventures, 2024 - present.
Member - American Craft Council, 2024 - present
Governance Working Group Member & Advisor — Fibershed, 2024.
Member ─ West Coast Craft, 2022 - present.
Member ─ Bay Area Made, 2022 - present.
Producer & Co-Op Member ─ Fibershed, 2020 - present.
Member ─ In Todo, 2021-2022.
Member ─ The National Association for Latino Arts and Cultures, 2019 - present.
Presentations | Exhibitions
American Sociological Association, New York, NY, 2026: “THE DECLINE OF PERFORMATIVE CAPITAL: From Identity Politics to Ecological Futures.”
American Sociological Association, New York, NY, 2026: “Clothing The Self: Material Resources, Reflexive Identity Work, and the Social Dimensions of Everyday Dressing.”
Symbolic Interaction and the Qualitatives, Brock Niagara Falls, Canada: “Clothing The Self: Material Resources, Reflexive Identity Work, and the Social Dimensions of Everyday Dressing.”
SF Big Brain, San Francisco, CA, 2025: “Clothing The Self: The Meaning Behind What We Wear.”
SF Climate Week, San Francisco, CA, 2025: “Rethink The Runway: How SB707 Impacts California’s Small Businesses.” (panel participant)
SF Startup Art Fair, San Francisco, CA, 2025: “INTERWOVEN: Beauty Reimagined From Waste.”
SF Climate Week, San Francisco, CA, 2025: “The Anthropocene Age.”
Fibershed, Point Reyes, CA, 2025: “Exploring Regenerative Food & Fiber Systems.”
American Sociological Association, Montreal, QC, CA, 2024: “Building Intersectional Knowledge in Artisanal Practice: How Collaborative Design Approaches Shape Sustainable Outcomes”
SF Design Week, San Francisco, CA, 2024: “Bay Area Made: Design Stories”
SF Climate Week, San Francisco, CA, 2024: “A Climate Beneficial Wardrobe”
Borrowed From the Soil, Point Reyes, CA, 2024: Clothing The Self, 2024.
Center for Domestic Peace, Marin County, CA, 2023: “How The Trauma-Reduction Model Helps Lessen the Stigma and Maximize Resources for Victims of Domestic Violence.”
Slate Art, Oakland, CA, 2023: “In the Body: Sensualizing the Experience of What We Wear.”
Fibershed, Point Reyes, CA, 2023: “Design Challenge: Longevity in Approaches to Design-Thinking.” (lecture)
American Sociological Association, Philadelphia, PA, 2018: “Innovation as a Social Process: Competition, Strategic Resources and Recombinatorial Identity Expression.”
Oxbow School Art Fundraiser, Napa, CA, 2017: “Sensualizing the Body, Sensualizing the Home.”
US-UK Medical Sociology Conference, Reykjavik, Iceland, 2015: “Illness Communities on the Internet.”
Labor and Employment Relations Association Conference Boston, Boston, MA, 2015: “Experienced, Educated and Long-term Unemployed.”
Society for the Study of Social Problems, New York, NY, 2013: “TV Talk Show Medical Entertainers and the Framing of Healthful Women’s Sexuality.”
Eastern Sociological Society Conference, Boston, MA, 2013: “Patient Autonomy and the Doctor’s Expertise in Women’s Childbearing Decisions.”
Eastern Sociological Society Conference, New York, NY, 2012: “Choosing Surgical Birth: Personal Choice and Medical Jurisdiction.”
Media
Rethink The Runway, May 2025: “Reflecting the Journey from Field to Fashion: An Afternoon of Regenerative Discovery.”
Rethink The Runway, May 2025: “When Policy Meets Pattern: The Night Fashion, Climate, and Community Converged.”
Fibershed, November 2024. “Intertwining: A story of the living world through material form.”
Fibershed, March 2024: “Meet 13 California Designers Reimagining Textile Creation.”
Mesh Moms, May 2023: “Meet Alix: a multi-hyphenate mother.”
Fibershed, February 2023: “Herderin Begins With The Body and Soul.”
SF Design Week, June 2022: “Bay Area Made Workspaces.”
Marin Magazine, March 2021: “Healing By Design: How a Sociologist Created a Clothing Brand for Emotional Comfort.”
Michigan Avenue Magazine, Winter 2017: “Design Exclusive: Let There Be Light.”
Practice Studies, May 2017: “Inside the Studio and Philosophy of Da.to.da Atelier.”
NBC Business News, January 2014: “Running Out of Money: Long-term Unemployed Face Grim New Year.”
Fundraising
Marin Micro-Business Grant ─ Herderin LLC, 2022.
Seed Funding ─ Herderin LLC, 2019
Seed Funding ─ Kodama Light, 2016
Seed Funding ─ Lilipod, 2013
Publications
Vasquez, A. 2026. “How Organizations Fail by Hiring for Culture Fit: The Costs of Mismatched Labor.” In Review at Administrative Science Quarterly.
Vasquez, A. 2026. “The Decline of Performative Capital.” In Review at Theory and Society.
Vasquez, A. and Alexandra Nugent. 2026. "Clothing The Self: Material Resources, Reflexive Identity Work, and the Social Dimensions of Everyday Dressing." In Review at Symbolic Interaction.
A. Vasquez, 2019. Misfit: The Impact of Mismatched Jobs on Creative Workers and The Organizations That Employ Them. Brandeis University ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2019. 22616721.
Sharone, O., and A. Vasquez. 2015. “Sociology as a Strategy of Support for Long-Term Unemployed Workers.” The American Sociologist. (47)1.
Conrad, P, J. Bandini and A. Vasquez. 2016. “Illness and the Internet: From Private to Public Experience.” Health (London). 20(1):22-32.
Sharone, O., R. Ghayad and A. Vasquez, et. al. 2015. “Supporting Experienced Long-Term Unemployed Professionals.” Transforming U.S. Workforce Development Policies for the 21st Century edited by Carl Vanhorn, Todd Green and Tammy Edward. Federal Reserve. Washington D.C.
Online
alexandriavasquez.com
herderin.com
www.usfca.edu/faculty/alexandria-vasquez
www.linkedin.com/in/alexandriavasquez