She holds a Master's of Forest Science from the Yale School of the Environment, where she focused on the restoration of native biodiversity, forest health and ecosystem services in human-modified landscapes. Her passion for sustaining forests and local livelihoods began while living in Costa Rica as part of her interdisciplinary "Biology & Society" major at Cornell University. She has worked at ELTI since 2010, designing training materials and online learning curricula and implementing online courses on strategies for tropical forest restoration in productive landscapes.