After completing her undergraduate degree at Wellesley College, she began working for an architecture firm in New York City that specialized in historic preservation. A love of old buildings and great design led her to pursue a Master of Architectural History at the University of Virginia, where she also completed her M.Arch in 1998. She has since worked within and alongside numerous architecture and landscape architecture firms including Brady Mitchell Anderson, LaBau and LaBau Architecture and Design on residential, commercial and civic projects. She is a LEED Accredited Professional and also spent several years at William McDonough + Partners, a practice devoted to highly sophisticated sustainable design.