Madison is a third-year graduate student at Boston University, where she is pursuing a dual Master of Divinity and Master of Social Work, with a specialization in trauma and violence. She is currently on the path to ordination in the Minnesota conference of the United Church of Christ.
As the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, Madison is interested in exploring the role of religion and spirituality, particularly Christianity theology and ecclesiology, both in response to and as a precipitator of trauma within migrant communities. This school year, she will also be working as a Research Assistant for Dr. Shelly Rambo’s Trauma Responsive Congregations team, which seeks to equip churches with resources for responding to trauma in their congregations, and she is excited to see how that work informs her ministry in the UCC.
Prior to graduate schooling, Madison received a BA in Relational Communication Studies and English Literature from Bethel University in St. Paul, MN. After undergrad, she worked for 3 years as Youth Ministry Associate at Meetinghouse Church (formerly known as Colonial Church). Since starting graduate school, she has worked as a Clinical Social Work intern at St. Stephen’s Youth Programs, an afterschool program in Roxbury, where she taught social and emotional skills to middle schoolers. She has also served as the Pastoral Intern at Brighton Allston Congregational Church.
Madison currently lives in Brighton with her partner, Britta. She likes reading, writing, Taylor Swift, queer theology, and pickleball.