"Hey Twitter I'm on a mission," she wrote in a post on March 10 this year. "All the men are named. Can you help me know her?"
It seemed a big ask at the time, according to Andersen who had only a small Twitter following of about 500. But it soon prompted a global search and responses started pouring in as social media detectives assigned themselves to the case. Andersen said she had to turn off notifications on her phone when the post went viral a few days later. It has since attracted more than 28,000 "likes" and 13,000 shares.
Just days later, Twitter users, with help from an archivist at the Smithsonian, were able to confirm that the woman was Sheila Minor Huff, who was a biological specimen analyst at the Fish and Wildlife Service when the photo was taken.
Andersen found the person she suspected to be Minor on Facebook and sent her a private message. Minor responded overnight and included an email address and the promise "We have so much to discuss."
"I thought, 'Oh my gosh, she's a living, breathing woman,'" Andersen said. "And she had responded with the heart eyes emoji and the 'OMG' so she's got personality. She's real."
The pair ended up talking over the phone for about an hour and discussed everything from "male-dominated work spaces" to the details surrounding the day the now-famous picture was taken.
"Sheila is one of the most humble, kind-hearted people I've ever spoken to," Andersen wrote on Twitter following the call.
"Even though she didn't go in to marine or ocean sciences, Sheila ended the call by asking me what she could do to help me get my book done, *heart bursts*.
"We discussed things you do for you — your mind, heart and soul — and no one else.
"Your passions. She said: 'Never, ever let those go'."
