Schroeder was born in Valparaiso, Indiana. In 1993, while accompanying a cousin to an acting audition, the casting director asked if the cute three-year old would consider working for them. At first her mother was hesitant about the question but things such as money for a college education began to appeal to her. After her first job as a child print model, she began doing print work in Chicago for Sears, Roebuck and Company, Kmart, Spiegel, Land's End, Chuck E. Cheese's, and many other print advertisers. Two years later in 1995, child director Bob Ebel asked her to do a few television commercials.

In 1997, American Broadcasting Company (ABC) hired Schroeder to play Serena Baldwin on General Hospital. She was twice nominated for a Young Artist Award for her work on the show; once in 1999 and again in 2000, as well as a Young Star Award nomination in 1999 for Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Daytime TV Program.

Schroeder then appeared as Melina Bianco in The Dis