I'm also in the Great lakes region and have never seen a spider like that before. Any tips for searching?

That's super cool, we don't have those here in NZ

I think she’s a lady 'cause she’s thicc. I’m fairly sure she’s a Goldenrod Crab Spider (Misumena vatia).

Most certainly, the females and males of this species look quite distinct. The females are usually uniformly white or yellow (they can actually change colour) with two stripes on the side of the abdomen. The males have either a white or black leg- (often with banding) and cephalothorax sections (with a central stripe), with a white or yellow abdomen and two central stripes.