 Suarez had graduated from culinary school in Florida, and after his catering company there failed, he had moved to New York for a fresh start.Once they discovered that the two of them lived ten minutes apart from one another, they quickly fell in with one another again, resuming work on the songs they wrote together in high school.As Blackinton and Suarez fleshed out their songs, they named their musical project Ivy League, but later changed it to This Is Ivy League due to copyright issues.