From my conference bio:
An equally avid fan of punishingly complex board games and also puns about dinosaurs, Eloise brings her analytical abilities to bear on a wide range of interests and delivers them to audiences with clarity and humor. Following the family legacy of accidental programmers, she studied impractical topics like Russian and Technical Theatre at the University of Michigan while making money providing tech support, creating web sites, and inadvertently learning to program. 15 years, a husband, and 3 children later, Eloise has had experience in every aspect of software/web development and currently works in the weird, niche industry of HR Information Systems Integration.