Through some trial and error, I got the site deployed on Netlify and closed my first issue.
It was a rough start with a few false starts.
I haven't set up continuous deployment on Netlify in months. When I entered The Collab Lab, we started with the create-react-app template site already deployed for us so that we could focus on the collaboration and teamwork instead of setting up.
Through a combination of Googling and recalling steps from the past, I made it there. I have a few small victories for this first day and I'm excited about eventually reaching the finish line with this app.