Nicole Luongo is a thirty-year old settler of Italian and German descent. She holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in medical sociology from the University of British Columbia. Her research interests—disordered eating, substance abuse, and the social production of Madness—are born of lived experience. As a young person, Nicole faced housing-deprivation on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and witnessed first-hand the stigma and violence associated with socio-economic and other forms of oppression. Since then, Nicole has been involved in initiatives related to housing justice and drug policy reform. She is a proud member of VANDU (the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users) and presently teaches college-level sociology while plotting her next move. She lives in Fort McMurray, Alberta.