Paula has always moved between the two worlds of academia and media practice. In her first career as a music journalist for Vox (1990-1997) Paula was, for many years, one of the only full-time women members of the editorial team at a time when the music press was a ‘boys' club’. Moving online, she spent many years as a Web Editor (1997-2004) for a variety of media outlets including the BBC, Channel 4, Red and studentUK and was a senior consultant for the Department for Education as well as consecutively holding a series of visiting lecturer posts before moving to Brighton in 2004.
Having completed a Masters in Women’s Studies, Paula is politically passionate about the considerations of women in media and these concerns have underpinned much of her research, teaching and outputs. Indeed, her PhD, which comprises a series of published works in this field included work specifically on the gendered media representations of musician’s deaths.