Courtney began working with young people in Minneapolis, where she started a youth-run restaurant in the park across the street from her apartment. She moved to New York to study social work but ended up making the jump to radio soon after hearing a Radio Rookies story one day on her Walkman. Courtney trained at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Maine and interned at StoryCorps and American RadioWorks before joining Radio Rookies as a producer in 2007. Now she assists in teaching radio and multimedia workshops and works alongside Rookie Reporters to produce stories for WNYC.org and WNYC Radio.