In 2011, Johnson became a teaching assistant at the University of Akron where she also studied poetry. She also served as the poetry editor of the Rubbertop Review. She became a NEOMFA candidate at the University of Akron that same year.[5] By the end of 2012, her poetry had appeared in publications like Midwestern Gothic,[2] SOFTBLOW, the Rufous City Review, Wicked Alice, Smoking Glue Gun, and numerous others.[9][16]