Amanda Lee Caulkins was born in Hillsdale, Michigan in the mid-eighties. Though she shares a middle name with her grandfather and approximately half her cousins, she adopted the nickname Mandy in second grade to create a distinction between her and the other two Amandas in her class. A self-proclaimed homebody in high school, Mandy decided to move to Texas, where she knew no one, to attend college. She majored in Radio-Television-Film and minored in Photography.

Mandy is unconventionally adventurous (see above about moving across the country alone) but sees no reason to jump out of a perfectly good airplane or ride roller coasters to puking point. She enjoys traveling, taking pictures, and listening to live music; and when she’s feeling less adventurous, taking naps, coloring with crayons, and visiting other kindergarten pastimes to stay in touch with her inner child.

She met Emmeline during an internship that desensitized them to public embarrassment by requiring that they do the Cha Cha Slide in food courts and grocery store entryways. They bonded over banana bread French toast (which does indeed set off the smoke detector) and blowing up Peeps in the microwave.  The Peeps detonation was captured on video.  The Cha Cha Slide, thankfully, was not.