Hi, I’m Yena Lee (she/they), a postdoctoral fellow in the Center on Digital Culture and Society at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, directed by Dr. Guobin Yang. Beginning in fall 2026, I will be joining the Department of Media Culture at CUNY College of Staten Island as an assistant professor. I received my PhD in Media, Technology, and Society program at Northwestern University’s School of Communication. My research spans networked social movements, political content creators, and fan activism, unified by two central questions: How do unorganized actors become influential and under what conditions does that influence translate into political power? These questions anchor my broader research agenda, which examines the shifting dynamics of influence and power across digital platforms, issue areas, and national contexts, including South Korea, the United States, and Brazil.
Yena Lee 