>> So for my undergraduate, I studied journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
And following that, I actually went into a career in marketing for about six years.
I worked at some smaller boutique firms out on the west coast in lovely Oregon.
I had several high tech clients, but I recognized that something wasn't --
something wasn't feeling quite right.
I was really missing the sense of giving back
that had been instilled in me from a very young age.
So with the help of a mentor, I took a critical look
at what I was doing and what I wanted to be doing.
And what I wanted to be able to tell stories about at the end of the career,
and it really wasn't the stories that I was coming to tell from my career in marketing.
So I decided that international response,
international development is where I wanted to go.
For that, I had zero experience.
So I recognized that I needed to get some as well as get a Master's degree
because most everyone in this field or a lot of folks in this field have a Master's degree.
So that led me to Penn State School of International Affairs for my Master's.
I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do after that Master's, but I knew I wanted to be
in the field of international aid or development relief in some way, really helping people
in a much more direct way then I ever had in my previous career.