Amanda was born and raised in a Dexter, Missouri, a town nestled between St. Louis and Memphis. She attended undergraduate school at Southeast Missouri State University, eventually landing in New Orleans to pursue a juris doctorate degree from Tulane Law School. The first week of her last year of law school, Hurricane Katrina blasted New Orleans. She would relocate to Columbia, Missouri where she attended University of Missouri School of Law that semester. She would once again find herself in New Orleans recording her first album, the gigs built and she was able to completely relinquish practicing law and focus completely on her music. Amanda now resides and performs in Nashville, Tennessee.