While at Reed College, Janet focused on the history of colonial soldiers during the First World War and studied Francophone literature. She studied abroad in Paris. After graduating, she taught English in Martinique (French West Indies) for one year. Janet then served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo for two years, where she supported community gardens and taught nutritional science, agriculture, and English. Janet is now a doctoral student at the University of Virginia, where she studies the modern French colonial empire, as well as African and Caribbean history. She spends her free time volunteering as an English tutor, hiking, painting, and relaxing with her dog, Zorro. Janet is fluent in French, proficient in Kabiye, and currently studying Spanish and Arabic. This fall, Janet will return to the University of Virginia to continue her research on food systems in eighteenth-century West Africa.