Risa graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford, New Jersey. While at a student nurses’ convention during her junior year she attended a Nurse Midwifery session and was immediately enamored with her new course of study. It was soon after that she was on a plane to Glasgow, Scotland, where she attended Northern Glasgow College of Nursing and Midwifery. Risa has worked in various locations and has both her nursing and midwifery licenses in New Jersey, New York, Virginia and Arizona. She has been practicing for 35 years and the first baby she delivered turned 35 in August.