Mara Lee Gilbert grew up in Nutley, NJ. She originally wanted to be a heart surgeon (at the ripe age of 8) until she almost fainted watching a video-taped heart surgery in her eighth grade science class. She changed her mind and decided to study psychology, following through to obtain her Master's Degree in Forensic Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice (NYC), in 2009. However, her interest in drama and performance grew strong during her college years: she performed as the lead in 5 productions on her school's stage, she wrote and produced a one-act play (2008)that has recently been published through the Riant Theatre's Strawberry One-Act Festival Anthology (vol. 6), and she taught theater workshops inside one of Manhattan's women's prisons as well as Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center. She decided to pursue this career full-time in 2010.