I went a local community college where I developed an interest in evolutionary biology because of an amazing zoology professor and her love of parasitic invertebrates. Her passion for weird critters and my interests drove me to transfer to the University of California, Berkeley to continue my education in biology. While at Berkeley, I became enamored with marine invertebrates and applied to a master’s program where I investigated the biodiversity and molecular systematics of nudibranchs (colorful marine gastropods). During my master’s I became fascinated with animal evolution and its associated complexities. This fascination led me to Dr. Nicole King’s laboratory at Berkeley where I worked as a technician investigating the genetics behind multicellular development in choanoflagellates, one of the closest living transiently unicellular relatives to animals. This work fueled my interest in understanding how animals evolved complex features, like the ability to regenerate. For my PhD, I investigated the cellular, molecular, and epigenetic mechanisms governing neurogenesis during whole-body regeneration For my postdoctoral work, I am interested in investigating yet another fundamental feature of animal biology- how microbes alter animal physiology and how climate change is impacting this relationship.