Hello, I'm Nancy Johnson-Hunt

Nancy Johnson-Hunt is a former advertising suit and strategist turned Ph.D. Candidate and popular culture scholar at Auckland University of Technology. After a decade-long career within the advertising and marketing industry, both in New Zealand and North America, she has recently returned to AUT, joining the Popular Culture Research Centre. Her 2012 Honour’s Dissertation at AUT, ‘Beyond Skin Deep’, investigated the (re)presentation of ethnic beauty, and the emergence of ethnic ambiguity in an annual circulation of NZ Fashion Quarterly magazine. Her research interests include the diffusion of advertising culture, the construction of ethnic and racial identity in popular culture, and the influence of the media in shaping everyday lives and stories. Upon her return to academia, Nancy has been published in the 2020 ‘Dream’ Issue of M/C Journal (Journal of Media and Culture) in a paper titled “Dreams for Sale: Ideal Beauty in the Eyes of the Advertiser”. Alongside her academic interests, her work in fashion and retail has remained extensive, from brand strategy and marketing for The Warehouse Group, to in-store styling for the likes of brands such as Juliette Hogan and Wixii. She is currently writing a book of essays on motherhood through the BIPOC lens and hopes to continue to create intersectional work which resonates across nuanced topics of womanhood, race and identity.

Ph.D.  - Popular Culture

Auckland University of Technology

2020 – (in progress)

Honors degree - Communications Studies (Creative Industries)

Auckland University of Technology

2012 – 2013

Bachelor’s Degree - Journalism, Public Relations, Business

Auckland University of Technology

2007 – 2010