Madeline (nicknamed "Punk") was born and raised in Southport, NC. After attending Cape Fear Community College and working for many years as a local accountant, she took the position of gift shop manager with the NC Maritime Museum at Southport. Punk spent five years at NCMM, creating adult and children's programs, writing newsletters and press releases, and working closely with the Museum support group before transferring in 2008 to the Underwater Archaeology Branch (UAB).

Madeline is responsible for the budgeting, purchasing, and reporting of UAB and Queen Anne's Revenge Shipwreck Project (QAR) funds. She works as the archivist, maintaining databases for historic shipwrecks, site files, and bibliography, as well as continuing the on-going digitization of site, shipwreck, and report files gathered during the 50+ years of the North Carolina Underwater Archaeology program. Punk serves as the Human Resources liaison for UAB and QAR, arranges travel for staff, and provides general support for office and fieldwork.

Punk lives with her husband in Brunswick County and commutes to work on the Southport-Fort Fisher Ferry. "What a way to start the day!"