About

22  /  Bay Area, CA
︎ danielleleard [at] gmail.com

In a nutshell

Hi, there!

My name is Danielle, my pronouns are they/she, and I am a 22-year-old UC Berkeley student. I transferred from Saddleback Community College, where I earned two Associate’s degrees in Sociology and Liberal Studies respectively, earning six different certificates from the college in total.

I am currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisicplinary Studies at UC Berkeley, situated in Science and Technology Studies with an emphasis on Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (OCSEA). Fields of interest are the impact effects that corporatization and flattening of information as a public resource. I am interested in cybernetics, virtual communities, the psychosocial impact of digital media, the sociological consequences of computing, and the erosion of knowledge and communication forums as a public resource via algorithimized/corporatized digital platforms.

In May 2024, I received Honors for my research thesis, “I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On: The OCSEA Staircase, a Framework for Examining the Lifelong Effects of Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.”


In everything I do, my objective is to help architect a more bearable, accessible, equitable, and loving reality. I believe everyone has unique strengths and abilities to contribute to this picture of the world, and I know that mine is creativity. 

As an inaugural member of Generation Z, I grew up in perpetual saturation of the world’s problems. I can’t tell you how many headlines I’ve read with the phrases “unprecedented” or “worst ever...” since I was a kid. There are only so many times you can hear that “XYZ is the worst it has ever been” before you start to risk becoming desensitized. My generation has had a unique and overwhelming upbringing, with an event like the COVID-19 global pandemic being the prime example of it all.

I fight for my objectives through both direct, grassroots social action as well as the universal powers of art and entertainment as shared through the internet. Hence, I find myself at the intersection through which the two ideologies meet: creating meaningful media.

It’s important to me to always aspire to grow and work toward the betterment of you, the betterment of myself, and the betterment of the world. Regardless of the specific form, I apply the same mission statement in everything I do: I stand firm in believing we can architect a better world amidst our pain; calling our perceptions of life into question.

This calling has followed me all of my life.