Judy is grateful for the great education she received in Arizona's public schools, from John F. Long Elementary to Maryvale and then Sunnyslope High Schools. She began her higher education at Glendale Community College, and then graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Education from Arizona State University.

She was 27 when she started her first teaching job at Greenway High School in the English department. After several years, she decided to go back to school to become a school librarian. She then moved on to be the teacher-librarian at Cactus High School where she worked to inspire a love of reading, taught research and technology skills, and nurtured a sense of community among students and staff for 20 years before retiring in 2006.

As a mom, she raised her two sons here in the Northwest Valley where they got a great education in Washington and Glendale Union District schools and played soccer, Little League and performed in community theater.

As a co-founder of Theater Works and long-time board member, every time the curtain opened on a new production, she had a front-row seat to the magic that comes from working together on something greater than ourselves. That experience has informed her conviction in everything she's done ever since - from teaching to leading non-profits to serving in the legislature, that we can create results that are greater than the sum of our parts - results that benefit everyone - when we work together.