While majoring in Mechanical Engineering at Boise State, I was also a toy engineering intern for Caleb Chung--the inventor of the popular 90s toy, the Furby, at his Boise based toy development company, It's Alive Labs.

Shortly after I bought my 3D printer, Caleb (furby inventor) decided that the pandemic was great opportunity to retire. I was pretty sad because I wish I could have kept on creating toys under the mentorship of all the creative geniuses at It's Alive Labs until the day I died. But, in the meantime, I kept myself busy with senior level engineering classes via Zoom + 3D printing fun projects and posting them on TikTok. Several of my 3D printing projects ended up going viral, & every time, the comment section came to the same conclusion: "HOW DO WE BUY THAT FROM YOU?!" And thus, 3D Printcess (the company) was born...

After the slug went viral, I collected a waiting list for people who wanted one. I spent the next couple weeks using my two 3D printers making as many slugs as I could (only around 100). That very first slug drop sold out almost immediately (love you guys), and helped me buy a few more 3D printers.

Since day one, I have been dreaming of what little creature I could launch next. However, all of my time has been spent manufacturing slugs, fixing printers (so they can keep making slugs), quality checking slugs, packaging slugs, and shipping slugs. I didn't have time to create any new animals while I tried to make sure as many people as possible could adopt a slug friend. Don't get me wrong...I *love* the slugs...but after 2.5 years of spending all day everyday making them, I am getting kind of burnt out, and am still not able to meet demand on my own. The time has come to outsource my manufacturing and shipping (not to mention storage, so that we can have our living room back). Working with a manufacturer & fulfillment center means that my time can be spent marketing and designing new animals (and again, I'm so excited that my living room will no longer be a slug storage center). My small business is about to grow into its teenager phase and I am so excited for this next step! Thank you to everyone who has been helping me pay the bills with your slug collections. Your support means the world, and I am so glad it has allowed me to continue my toy career!

The years since graduating high school have been a whirlwind of incredible opportunities. In 2014, I was crowned Miss Idaho and went viral for wearing my insulin pump during the swimsuit portion of the Miss America competition. I went on to give 100+ speeches in over 30 states and write my book "Sugar Linings: Finding the Bright Side of Type 1 Diabetes".

In addition to being a toy engineering intern for Caleb, I also was undercover as the Boise State mascot, Buster Bronco, ended up graduating at the top of my Mechanical Engineering class and was named one of the top 10 students in the entire university for the class of spring 2022. I loved secretly being the mascot so much that I kept delaying my graduation. My the time senioritis finally caught up with me, I had completely my Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering, three minors (Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, and Biomedical Engineering), and two certificates (Mechanical Design and Mechatronics).