Mary Rickert was born in Port Washington WI and grew up in the small town of Fredonia. She worked as a kindergarten teacher for ten years at a small private school for gifted children in California, and has also worked at a bookstore, a YMCA, a coffee shop, and for two years as a personnel assistant in Sequoia National Park. She most recently worked as a nanny. Rickert lives in Cedarsburg WI with husband Bill Bauerband.