Diana M. Grillo grew up in a struggling Italian immigrant family with an abusive father. She lived in a wealthy suburb in Westchester County, New York. The neighborhood’s substantial wealth and social status starkly contrasted with her family’s, making Diana feel as though she never quite belonged. She became a mother at a very young age and worked her way through college while raising a son and daughter. Diana worked as a paralegal and social worker. Now retired, she lives in Cave Creek, Arizona with her husband where she has taken up writing short stories. Diana draws on the sharp contrasts of her youth and her journey through life as inspiration.