Her previous nursing specialties have included psychiatry, womens' mental health research, and cardiac catheterization lab. She holds an Associate of Applied Science in Nursing from College of the Ouachitas. In her home country of Turkey, Derya graduated from Trakya University where she studied food science and technology, and later worked at Mis Sut - Nestle biology and chemistry labs. Derya currently works in an emergency department and cardiac catheterization lab in the Little Rock metro.