Destiny Hopkins

Destiny Hopkins (she/her) is currently the Research and Action Coordinator on a technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) project at the Corner Brook Status of Women Council. The project is funded by the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence and is based in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. In this role, she aims to educate NL residents on TFGBV, understand their experiences of it, and advocate for legislation changes.

Destiny also works as a Research Assistant with Dr. Kelly Bergstrom (York University) on a SSHRC-funded project studying true crime ethics, fans/fandoms, creators, and Canadian media. She is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Technoscience & Society.

She is an incoming PhD student in the Department of Sociology at Western University. She graduated in 2025 with her MA in Communication and Culture from York University and Toronto Metropolitan University. She also has a BA in Criminology and English Language & Literature from Western University.

Destiny’s research focuses on content creators at the intersections of news and unpaid digital labour. Funded by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), her thesis explored the legitimacy and identity of Canadian and U.S. news influencers as they: a) navigate platform work, b) situate themselves within the professional boundaries of journalism, and c) build trust with online audiences.

Destiny has spoken about AI, online safety, TFGBV, scams, and other topics as a guest on The Plain Truth radio show and CBC Radio. As a student journalist, she’s written for The Western Gazette, The Excalibur, and The Odyssey Online.

Outside of academic engagements, she was the Museum Coordinator with The Canadian Glove Museum from 2021 to 2022. The museum is a non-profit in Point Leamington, NL and has been featured in the Toronto Star, CBC News, The Globe and Mail, and more.

Destiny has a mini Rex rabbit named Bow! Having to figure out travel between NL and Ontario with him, she’s currently working on petitioning Canadian airlines to allow rabbits to fly in-cabin. Check out the work of Let Bunnies Fly to learn more about this issue.

For any inquiries, please contact Destiny at dhopkin5@uwo.ca.