Brighton recently graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in East Asian Studies. He first joined the China Folk House community in 2023 when he spent the summer as a Cultural Curator Intern researching regional papermaking traditions. He continued involvement as a volunteer and organized trips of students to the folkhouse from UVA. Throughout college he was involved in a 3D Cultural Heritage Informatics internship program where he learned digital methods for material culture preservation and he worked part time at the Rare Book School managing and processing a collection of rare East Asian books. During his study abroad in Vietnam he worked with a non-profit organization focused on intangible culture heritage and papermaking tourism in northern Vietnam. Having visited Northwest Yunnan in 2024 and having research interests closely aligned with the mission of the Folkhouse, he is excited to continue to learn and grow with this amazing community.