Originally from Las Vegas, I spent the first part of my career as a freelance reporter in Nevada. Then, in my first staff writing position, I wrote obituaries for a group of weekly newspapers in suburban Minneapolis/St. Paul. I continued to work for various newspapers, magazines, and wire services, where I wrote about sports, crime, arts & entertainment, and politics. In 2010, I returned to school, earning an A.A. in Creative Writing from Anoka-Ramsey Community College, then a B.A. in English literature from Metropolitan State University. After discovering rhetoric and technical communication, I completed an M.A. in Rhetoric and Writing at St. Cloud State University, followed by a Ph.D. in Rhetoric, Theory and Culture at Michigan Tech.