Matt grew up in Adrian, Missouri, a small town about an hour south of Kansas City. After high school, he joined the Marine Corps and served for nearly eight years, completing tours to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Along with his stint in the military, Matt has amassed a collection of odd jobs over the years. He was a journalist for both the local newspaper and the NPR affiliate in Grand Forks, North Dakota; a public relations writer for the University of North Dakota; an elected Representative in North Dakota; and, for a short and embarrassing time, an influencer on TikTok, whose videos shared details of his year living in a van.

Currently, Matt’s an MFA in creative writing candidate at West Virginia University, where he’s writing short stories and working on his first novel.