Ian was as a summer intern for the Sun attending UNLV when he was hired as a full-time education reporter in 2014. He had previously worked as a reporter, news desk editor, managing editor and editor-in-chief of UNLV's student newspaper, The Rebel Yell. He grew up in the farm country of California's Central Valley and in Mariposa, a small town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. He graduated with an English degree in 2015.