Tessa Bailey is a Carlsbad, California native. She packed her yearbook, ripped jeans, and laptop the day after high school graduation and drove cross-country in under four days to New York City. Her most formative life experiences came after that, while working as a waitress at K-Dees, her uncle's Manhattan tavern. She met her spouse, closest friend, and discovered the joy of classic rock within those four walls, while while completing Kingsborough Community College and Pace University's English program. Many failed attempts to get into the journalism field followed, but romantic writing remained to occupy her time.