Born in Akron, Ohio on September 22, 1995 to Merideth L. Williams (née Mount) and James C. Williams.  I have two older sisters (ten and twelve years older, respectively), Kara N. Williams and Kristin M. Williams. My family relocated to Williston, Vermont in 1997 and once more to Shelburne, Vermont in 1998. I completed secondary school at Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg, Vermont in 2014. I went on to attend Clarkson University from 2014-2018 graduating with a BS in Global Supply Chain Management with minors in Economics, Project Management, and Human Resources Management. While at Clarkson University, I was a member of the Omicron Delta Epsilon (ODE) economic honor society as well as the social fraternity Phi Kappa Sigma (PKS).  After graduation, I worked from June 2018 through July 2019 at United Technologies Corporation in the greater Hartford, CT area before relocating to Morgantown, WV to pursue my PhD in economics at West Virginia University (WVU). I earned my MA in economics from WVU in the Spring of 2021, and later earned my Ph.D. in Economics in 2023.