Donna Woolfolk Cross received her bachelor's degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania in 1969, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. She worked as an editorial assistant for the London, England, publishing company W.H. Allen and Company, then returned to the U.S. to work for the New York City advertising agency Young & Rubicam. She returned to college to earn a master's degree in Literature and Writing from UCLA in 1972, and the following year, by now married, she took a position with Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, New York, teaching writing. She later became a full-time author, and has published four non-fiction books and one novel.