She is a native of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania and moved to Knoxville in 1994 to study elementary education. She received her BA in sociology with a minor in elementary education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1998. She completed her yearlong internship at Fountain City Elementary and earned her MS in elementary education in 1999. After graduation she taught for 9 years in the Hamilton County and Knox County school systems teaching first and fourth grades.