Janine Cross backpacked through the Middle East when she was 18; she milked cows in Israel, sailed down the Nile with a couple of Dutch girls in Egypt, and skinny-dipped around various isles in Greece.

She then bicycled through Asia and the South Pacific, taking one year just to cycle through Australia. Several years and 24,000 kms later, she returned to her hometown of North Vancouver, Canada. Since then, she has competed in martial arts and dabbled in bellydance, rockclimbing, and real estate investments.

She's worked in a chocolate factory and a veterinary hospital, was the president of a writers' association for three years, and helped start a private school. She has two children.