Maren grew up in Minnesota in a faithful Lutheran family and went to college at St. Olaf where she studied English and Religion. After teaching high school English in Chicago for several years, Maren went back to school — first to get a public health degree and then (after a little bit of work designing and evaluating community health programs) onto medical school. She did a residency in internal medicine and has been working as a doctor taking care of hospitalized patients in a public hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School for 8 years.