Rachel’s origin story begins with her many childhood field trips to Washington, DC museums, which sparked her interest in art history and desire to work with cultural institutions.

Read more below, in Rachel’s words

I grew up close to Washington, D.C., and had the opportunity to visit the Smithsonian museums often for school field trips. Back then, my favorite museum was the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum (the gift shop had cool magnets and “astronaut” ice cream). However, as I grew older and began to take the doodles in my notebook margins more seriously, I developed a greater appreciation for art history and art museums.

Once I entered college, I was heartbroken to learn that I couldn’t double major in Studio Art and Art History at my school. I brushed off the defeat and completely dedicated myself to being an artist. While I loved museums, I didn’t plan on working in them; I was going to be an illustrator!

However, during my junior year of college, I was an exchange student in Japan. There, I worked on an anthropology research project that focused on “cuteness culture” in Japan and its impact on Japanese women. For research, I visited the Osamu Tezuka Museum, which had a temporary exhibition on display called '80s Girly Design Collection. The exhibit showcased cute products and characters marketed to girls in Japan during the 1980s, including pocket tissue holders, stationery sets, and wastebaskets. One of the exhibition rooms was a recreation of the average teenage girl's room, with impeccable attention to detail down to the light fixtures and curtains. I was fascinated and wanted to learn more about the collection’s preservation techniques and the work that went into curating the catalog.