Ms. Kierstead was born and raised in Maine and attended the University of Maine in 2004. She graduated in 2008 with a Bachelors Degree in Child Development and Family Relationships. In 2012, she finished her Masters Degree in School Counseling at the University of Southern Maine. Ms. Kierstead has worked with children her entire career, from infants to college students. She has worked at a Child Development Center, a homeless shelter for teenagers, and most recently she was a Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Educator for grades K4-college. She has also worked for Camp Kita, a summer camp in Maine for children who have lost a loved one to suicide, as their Support Services Coordinator. In addition to her Maine certification, Ms. Kierstead is also a Nationally Certified Counselor through the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC). Ms. Kierstead sat on the Board of the Maine School Counselor Association (MESCA) for 11 years, first as their University of Southern Maine Student Representative, then as not only a Member-at-Large, but also as Conference Committee Chair for their annual 2012, 2013, and 2014 conferences. She then went on to become MESCA's President and then Past-President. Ms. Kierstead currently sits on the Board of the Maine Career Development Association (MCDA) as their School Counselor representative. Ms. Kierstead was a part of the American School Counselor Association's (ASCA) Conference Committee and Delegate Assembly Committee, and was a Conference Ambassador Leader for two years. Ms. Kierstead also volunteers for the Red Cross as a Disaster Mental Health Counselor. In 2018, Ms. Kierstead was awarded the Maine LGBTQA Youth Educator of the Year Award. In 2019, she was named Maine's School Counselor of the Year.