Colleen Ryan has an associate degree in liberal arts from Westmoreland County College (WCCC) in Pennsylvania, a bachelor's degree in business/human resources from Geneva College, and a master's degree in writing popular fiction from Seton Hill University.

She spent 26 years working at WCCC.  Until recently she was coordinator of community education where she created and developed new non-credit programs.  Today she is an adjunct professor at WCCC teaching writing and literature.

Colleen has three children and six cats and admits to being a political junkie, who loves to read and watch crime dramas, cook, and decorate her home, which is a work in progress, as is the author.

For several years she has been a member of the YWCA Unity Coalition, an organization whose objective is to empower women and promote racial understanding.  She's a member of the NAACP and former member of the Westmoreland County Art Grant Advisory Program.  She has also appeared in Who's Who Among America's Teachers twice.