A native of New Orleans, I earned my initial degree at Louisiana State University. I completed my doctoral studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. I was among the early members of the Greater Birmingham Affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. Over the past twenty years, I've served in different capacities on the boards of various nonprofit organizations in the Birmingham area.

Married since 1992, I am the proud mother of an energetic young man. My interests include reading, backgammon, playing the Irish pennywhistle, Cajun music and cooking, LSU football and an ongoing contest of wills with the thieving squirrels in my neighborhood.