About Ashley LeBaron-Black

Hi, I'm Dr. Ashley LeBaron-Black!

I love my family, my faith, and my job, and I feel so lucky that all three are interconnected for me. I come from an imperfect but wonderful family as the fourth of five kids. I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and my belief in a Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, a Plan of Happiness for all Their children, and our Savior Jesus Christ influences everything I do. To, me the gospel is all about families, and I think that's a big reason why I was drawn to major in Family Studies as an undergraduate student at Brigham Young University. (It took a lot for me to leave my initial major of Art History, which I'm still passionate about.) I stayed at BYU for a master's in Marriage, Family, and Human Development (working with Dr. Jeff Hill) and then went to the University of Arizona for a PhD in Family Studies and Human Development (working with Dr. Melissa Curran). While in Arizona I met and married a dreamboat named Tom. (During the COVID-19 pandemic, we eloped to a drive-thru in Las Vegas!) What a privilege that I get to go through all the ups and downs of life with Tom. Now, I'm an Assistant Professor of Family Life at BYU, where I get to teach incredible students (I teach family theory, graduate family theory, and family finance) and research family finance (including finances in romantic relationships and financial socialization). I love being involved in my field as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Family and Economic Issues and as Chair of the Family Financial Wellbeing focus group for the National Council on Family Relations.

So, why did I make this website? Too much of the social science research academics conduct that is so important for individuals and families is stuck in the ivory tower. That is, I may spend months or years conducting a study, only for a small pool of researchers in my specific field to hear or read about the findings. But the whole reason I conduct research is to (hopefully) help families! If a person never reads about the research, they will never benefit from the knowledge they could be applying to improve their relationships. Enter, this website. I hope this is a place where non-academics will come to read about research findings in non-academic language with easily applicable takeaways. As a bonus, every article on this website is written by one of my amazing research assistants. Huge shout-out to Elisabeth Malmgren for designing it. I hope this website is helpful for you, your financial wellbeing, and your family relationships!