Emily Cowan was born and raised in Kansas until she was ten, living just twenty minutes outside of the capital city. She spent plenty of time in Topeka hanging out with family, shopping, and going out to explore. She moved to Oklahoma but has stayed in touch with her roots, going back numerous times in a year. In January 2020, she was brought onto the Abandoned Oklahoma team, where she fell in love with photojournalism and history. She knew kickstarting Abandoned Kansas was a goal she wanted to achieve sooner rather than later.