I grew up in a small farming town about an hour and a half southwest of Chicago. At the age of 5, I started sewing with my grandmother and was hooked. I instantly had a passion for making things and exploring how things are made. In my early teens, I started getting involved with technical theatre through my local community theatre and continued throughout high school. At the age of 15, I was saving up my money to travel to Chicago on Sundays by train to see matinees while working in a quilt shop in LaSalle, IL, keeping up to date with the latest machines and techniques. After studying biology in school and feeling unfulfilled, I did a 180 and switched to theatre design and technical production. Now I couldn't picture myself doing anything else.