She then enrolled at Truman College, where a mentor, Dr. Yvonne Harris, encouraged her to consider science, in spite of her disabilities.

[1] One of her superiors described her as having "golden hands", being able to coax DNA from particularly small and difficult biological samples.

[1][5] In addition to her work at the Field Museum she was one of two scientists at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's science lab.

[2] In 2018, she finished two master's degrees, and in 2019 she started working as an adjunct professor at Malcolm X College—which colleagues describe as her dream job.

[5] Supporters raised funds through a GoFundMe initiative, to start a scholarship in her name for young African-American women entering the sciences.