A National Merit Scholar, C.J. attended college at Williams College as indicated by the mug in her bookcase in Season 5 Episode 18. She later earned a master's degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and it is revealed in Season 1 Episode 21 that she is considered an expert in polling models; her undergraduate major is never disclosed. She was making $550,000 a year for her work at Triton Day, a prominent California public relations firm, before coming to work for Bartlet's 1998 presidential campaign for $600 a week ($31,200 a year). Coincidentally, she is fired from that job on the same day that Toby Ziegler comes to California to ask her to join the Bartlet campaign. He tells her Josiah Bartlet was impressed by the work C.J. had done at EMILY's List, then admits Bartlet has never heard of her: she is his and Leo McGarry's choice. She is less than pleased to discover that her Secret Service codename is "Flamingo", a bird which C.J. describes as being "ridiculous-looking".