Sydney graduated from the Ohio State University in May 2018 with a B.S. in chemistry and minor in pharmaceutical sciences. While there, she worked under Dr. Noel M. Paul to synthesize a library of azo dyes to function as ionochromic anion indicators. During the summers of 2017 and 2018, she worked as a chemistry intern at Sherwin-Williams in Cleveland, Ohio developing odor blocking technology and improving the long-term integrity of paint film. In the fall of 2019, Sydney joined the Hergenrother lab as a Springborn Fellow and NIH-Chemical Biology Interface Training Program Fellow to work on the synthesis and application of anticancer natural products.