Brett graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in Architecture in 2015.​ While enrolled at Carnegie Mellon, Brett worked with the local Pittsburgh community as a brother of the Penn Theta chapter of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity.  

Prior to co-founding the venture, “Building With Bottles,” Brett became involved with STAND, the student-led division of Genocide Intervention Network, as a Regional Outreach Coordinator. This work created an eagerness to have more hands-on experiences, which led to trips to post-Katrina New Orleans to help rebuild, Ghana to aid in malaria prevention, and ultimately Haiti. In Haiti, Brett sought to create a design solution to the problems which he observed, notably an overabundance of trash and a marginalized population of individuals who were disabled. Brett worked with the Afya Foundation, an organization focused on bringing much-needed medical supplies, and therapy services to those disabled during the earthquake, to launch his project. He employed local furniture makers in Haiti to provide furniture for thousands of people living in IDP camps, impacting the local environment and need for sanitation solutions by creating furniture from disposed plastic bottles, and creating a sustainable employment opportunity for people with disabilities. Using the tooling methods he developed during the initial research phase of Building With Bottles,  he is currently taking raw plastic, which would have normally been burned in Haiti, and extruding it to be 3D printed onto fabric.