Marcia was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. After finishing her undergraduate degree in Sociology at the University of California at Santa Barbara, she obtained her marriage family and child counseling degree from Azusa Pacific University. Shortly thereafter she moved to Washington state where she developed a private practice and was eventually asked to direct a counseling center. During that period she engaged in intensive post graduate training in family therapy with the Child Guidance Clinic of Philadelphia. In 1985 she moved to the California Bay Area to pursue a doctorate in clinical psychology.