About

Dee grew up in rural Richland County, Wisconsin. Her home, nestled deep in the heart of the Driftless region, encouraged all sorts of outdoor recreational activities as technology is difficult to connect in the deep valleys. She grew up hunting morel mushrooms, playing in the creek and helping her family with a large vegetable garden.

She graduated from Ithaca High School and University of Wisconsin-Platteville, then pursued a career in journalism. She worked as a reporter for the Daily Citizen in Beaver Dam for two years and the Vernon County Broadcaster in Viroqua for two years before taking a job as editor in Darlington, then later in Cuba City, serving as editor for a total of six years.

In 2018 she stepped away from the newspaper business to focus on her passions: marketing and tourism. She works at the Platteville Regional Chamber, which is also a Travel Wisconsin Welcome Center. She helps promote local events and businesses for the Chamber as well as tourism for Platteville, Grant County, Southwest Wisconsin, the Tri-State region and the entire state of Wisconsin.

Dee has dabbled in photography over the years. She continues to have a journalistic, storytelling style from her newspaper experiences and is drawn to beautiful scenery where she can connect with nature. She has also done freelance graphic designing and sells personalized alphabet art.

She noticed a lack of acknowledgement of the southwest corner of Wisconsin at a state tourism function – not for a lack of trying. Wisconsin as a whole has a lot to offer any tourist. She saw a need for Southwest Wisconsin to brag about what it has to offer and started Explore Southwest Wisconsin as a result.

Dee loves to travel and explore. While her favorite destinations are in Southwest Wisconsin, she likes to travel elsewhere to gain new experiences. She has been to the Bahamas several times and has started visiting all of the National Parks. She loves to travel and explore, and even visiting the same locations many times always offers a different travel experience.