Jonathan and Tara met while working on the Illini Solar Car Team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They got to know each other over many hours of building solar cars and went on their first date in the Summer of 2019. Following Jonathan's graduation, they began two years of long distance as Tara finished school and Jonathan began his first job in Des Moines. After many visits between Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois, they moved to the San Francisco Bay Area together in the Fall of 2022, where they now reside.

Jonathan proposed to Tara on November 25th, 2023 in Chicago, IL. After a day at the Adler Planetarium, he took her on a walk next to the water. They had spent the day in that same spot four and a half years earlier, the day after their first date. Just as the sun started to set, he got down on one knee, and she said yes!