I started my college career in architecture, learning to appreciate design, but when I was more drawn to the history of architecture, I moved to the history department, taking a significant amount of art history along the way.

In the history department, I received a research grant to conduct original research on advertisements relating to the British Empire. My senior thesis expanded on this by looking at WWI advertisements as propaganda in English newspapers. The gathering of ads and original research that went into it gave me the first experience of looking at a very large set of data and putting something together with it. Submitting my extensive research produced a prize in European History from the University of Minnesota.

After college, I worked in museums and was drawn to the idea of creating exhibits and sharing information to visitors. I started pursuing an MLIS degree online through the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, hoping to translate that dream into museum or library work. Quickly I realized it wasn't really for me, but stuck with it as a new Master of Science in Information and Technology was beginning at the school. In the end, I was able to study and develop skills in user research, accessible UX design; and receive both the MSIST and MLIS degrees. My capstone project was Roam, a hotel finding website that puts the focus on what the users want to have for amenities at a hotel, producing a focused list of results.