Howdy! I was born and raised in the mountains of rural Virginia along that western state's border. Growing up I got to explore the wonderful beauty that hides in the Appalachian Mountains that fostered most of my hobbies today, from hiking and running to playing video games when the weather didn't cooperate.

After graduating high school, I had the privilege to attend Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the same mountains that I grew up in - except the amenities in Blacksburg made it seem like a large city compared to what I grew up with. I started in the Meteorology program, but quickly realized that Geography was my calling for a variety of reasons. I graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Geography in May 2018. Prior to graduating, I had the honor of serving my student community as a residential advisor for two years, promoting better sidewalks with the Town of Blacksburg's GIS department, exploring the world of Microsoft Access and dabbling in ArcMap with the National Center for the Analysis of Healthcare Data, and using my skills gained through junior year as a technician delineating wetlands for the Conservation Management Institute.

After graduation, I worked for Henrico County's Public Works department mapping and modeling pedestrian infrastructure and exploring the possibilities with online and mobile GIS. Seven months later, I accepted a position with Chesterfield County's Fire and EMS department as a Research Analyst in their Planning Unit. I'm responsible for a large portion of the department's spatial needs (from data requests for decision making to assisting the development of dispatch mapping) and I continue to learn the ropes of business intelligence and Python for automation and efficiency.