I'm a regular ol' Michigander. I grew up in Grand Rapids, and attended Kalamazoo College where I majored in Spanish and Religion. During my junior year I studied abroad in Caceres, Spain. Soon after graduation, I began working at Catholic Human Development Outreach in Grand Rapids, in the Immigration Assistance Program where I was first exposed to immigration law. That experience convinced me to attend law school, and while there I again studied abroad, but this time in Galway, Ireland learning about International Human Rights and Humanitarian law. I graduated and became an attorney in 2006, when I moved to Chicago to study tax law. I then worked in tax for several years, specializing in individual international taxation issues. In 2010, I felt the pull back home to Michigan and immigration law. I worked at St. Vincent Catholic Charities in Lansing, Michigan as a Staff Attorney for more than two years before becoming the Director of Immigration Legal Services for the Diocese of Grand Rapids in 2013. I left that post in 2022 to open LYIS, PLLC. I now have more than 14 years' experience in U.S. citizenship and immigration practice. I am a native English speaker, and fluent in Spanish.

I have two dogs, and I like to knit and research my geneaology.