Meghan O’Brien received her bachelor’s degree in May 2025 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she majored in journalism and English with a minor in Indigenous studies. She worked as a news and culture reporter and served as managing editor of The Daily Nebraskan. She was also a news reporting intern at the Lincoln Journal-Star, where she covered community organizations, as well as breaking news, and at Nebraska Public Media, where she reported on health care and rural communities across Nebraska.