She graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. She earned her M.S. in Family Mediation in 2005 and her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Missouri in 2009. She has taught courses in marriage and family, family communication, contemporary topics in family studies, and family theory as well as a state-mandated divorced parenting education course. She currently lives with her husband, daughter and two black labs in Morgantown, West Virginia.