Emily and Tom met on the first day of orientation for graduate school at The George Washington University in DC. They quickly bonded over their love of travel, the outdoors, great food, and of course public policy and public administration (their fields of study in grad school). They added their Australian Kelpie, Turbo, to the family in November 2016 and bought their first house in May 2018. They got engaged in St. Michaels, Maryland just two weeks later.