She grew up in Woodbridge, Virginia and graduated from Virginia Tech with a BA in English. In the spring semester of her first year, she studied abroad at Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea during the Covid pandemic. For the rest of her time at Virginia Tech she was heavily involved in the Honors College and undergraduate research. 

Her most notable research experience was with a NSF-funded project on the socio-linguistic variation of post-Katrina New Orleans. This led her to become a part of the Linguistic Society of America and the American Dialect society. This exposure to research allowed her to present at a variety of conferences, including one in the UK where she presented her own research on educational equity. 

After graduating as an honors laureate, she accepted a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in the Czech Republic. 

Since returning to the U.S. she has taught middle school and most recently worked as a bookseller. 

Her hobbies include reading and writing speculative fiction, watching documentaries, and cooking Chinese cuisine.