Russ and Stephanie met when their friend Gian decided to start a new fandom themed improv comedy team. The theme for this team was decided to be Harry Potter. Gian sought to bring his favorite people from other teams he was on or had previously coached together to assemble this new team and Stephanie was currently rehearsing with a Musical Puppet Improv Team that he coached and Russ was on Drunkards & Dragons (Fantasy Role Playing Themed Team) with Gian. The team started rehearsals and the first day of rehearsal Stephanie made an impression on Russ when she walked into rehearsal at Russ' house and jokingly offered to rearrange his furniture. They continued to rehearse once a week and Russ would send Stephanie Facebook messages all the time as friends. They often went to lunches together after rehearsals with Gian and got together for movie nights and to watch Game of Thrones (which Russ later revealed were just excuses for him to invite Stephanie to spend time with him). After about 3 months time the lunches got longer and longer and the 2 began dating.