She is from Alexandria, VA. She double-majored in English and Spanish at the College of William & Mary, and got a Master’s in journalism at the University of Missouri. In between those two degrees, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in a small town in Ukraine, teaching English to 5th through 11th graders. (She also wrote a blog while there.) In her free time, she is an alto 1 in the Capitol Hill Chorale, and a devoted trivia team and book club member.