About

Bio updated 2022.
Victoria Erdel García ‘19 moved to Asia following her graduation in 2019 to work for Starfish Project, an anti-human trafficking social business. As the Social Media and Content Creator, she reported on the daily operations of the business to their social media followers and managed several marketing and fundraising campaigns. Victoria was unexpectedly evacuated back to the US due to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, but she continued working remotely for the company and was promoted to Digital Marketing Manager in early 2021. Now, she is in charge of the company's advertising strategy and management and, with her team, has generated enough revenue for the company to hire even more women out of exploitation. To strengthen her knowledge of general communication and advertising strategies, Victoria enrolled in Purdue University's MS in Communication with a concentration in Advertising program in the fall of 2021. She will complete her master's program in 2023 and hopes to return to Asia after that to train survivors of trafficking in digital marketing so that they can further develop their careers and eventually take over her position. 

This bio was current as of 2019 when she was part of the on-campus Kellogg community.

Victoria Erdel García is currently completing her honors sociology senior thesis on the social media marketing practices of an anti-trafficking social enterprise that operates primarily in Asia and North America. With her research, Erdel García hopes to better understand how those on the frontlines in the anti-trafficking field craft narratives of their work and intend to influence their audiences’ understanding of the issue. Prior to completing her thesis under the guidance of sociology Professor Terence McDonnell, Erdel García worked under History and Africana studies Professor Mariana Candido on her research related to historical slavery in Angola during the Portuguese empire.

To complete her thesis research, Erdel García received a Kellogg/Kroc Undergraduate Research Grant and a grant from the Roberts Endowment for Research in East Asia for the summer of 2018. The previous summer, she received her first grant from the Roberts Endowment to intern at the anti-trafficking organization where she later returned to conduct her thesis research. She has also received Kellogg ISP Conference Grants to attend the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference in Toledo, Ohio, the UN Youth Assembly in New York City, and a grant from the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts to present at the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing. In the fall semester of her senior year, she was invited by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network - Youth to participate in two panels on youth advocacy and her anti-trafficking work and research at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Thesis Title: The Production and Publication Processes of Social Media Content at an Anti-Trafficking Social Enterprise

Adviser
Terence McDonnell
Major(s)
Sociology
Minor(s)
Teaching English to Other Lang Spkrs
Current Research

Research Interests
Prior to completing my thesis under the guidance of sociology Professor Terence McDonnell, I worked under History and Africana studies Professor Mariana Candido on her research related to historical slavery in Angola during the Portuguese empire. To complete my thesis research, I received a Kellogg/Kroc Undergraduate Research Grant and a grant from the Roberts Endowment for Research in East Asia for the summer of 2018. The previous summer, I received my first grant from the Roberts Endowment to intern at the anti-trafficking organization where I later returned to conduct my thesis research. I have also received Kellogg ISP Conference Grants to attend the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference in Toledo, Ohio, the UN Youth Assembly in New York City, and a grant from the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts to present at the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing. In the fall semester of my senior year, I was invited by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network - Youth to participate in two panels on youth advocacy and my anti-trafficking work and research at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Current Research
I am currently completing my honors sociology senior thesis on the social media marketing practices of an anti-trafficking social enterprise that operates primarily in Asia and North America. With my research, I hope to better understand how those on the frontlines in the anti-trafficking field craft narratives of their work and the ethical and legal dilemmas they address during this process.