Born in Hazleton, Pennsylvania (a coal mining town in the Pocono Mts.) The youngest of four children. Attended the Jagiellionion University in Krakow, Poland and graduated from Pennsylvania State University. She was a member of the Alpha Phi sorority. She worked in Washington,DC for the President's Council on Physical Fitness from 1982-1986 and was also appointed to the Massachusetts Governor's Committee on Physical Fitness under Governor Michael Dukakis.