Born in Mosnang, she began running as a child. She became more serious about the sport as a teenager and joined the local sports club KTV Bütschwil. Initially she did long-distance road running but focused on middle-distance track running after working with the club. She made her first appearances at the senior national level in 2008, coming fourth in the 800 m at the Swiss indoors and seventh at the Swiss outdoor championships. She improved her best to 2:06.20 minutes at the 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships, but was a little slower in the final and finished seventh. She also ran in the 1500 metres that year and was runner-up at the Swiss championships and ended the year with a best of 4:29.01 minutes.