Armstrong was raised a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Memphis, Tennessee, and majored in English at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, graduating in 1997. She then left the church and moved to Los Angeles to work. Armstrong married web designer Jon Armstrong and returned to Salt Lake City to work as a consultant and designer herself. Her blog, started in 2001, cost her her job the following year after her coworkers discovered she had been writing about them; after her termination she continued it, focusing on her parenting struggles and eventually running ads in 2004. Five years later she had 8.5 million viewers a month and was reportedly making over $100,000 annually from banner ads on Dooce. Armstrong appeared on "Oprah" and was featured by "Forbes" magazine among 30 honorees on its list of "The Most Influential Women In Media" for 2009.