Donna Esposito grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, not far from the homes of James A. Michener, Margaret Mead, Pearl S. Buck, and Oscar Hammerstein II. She earned an undergraduate degree in molecular biology from Lehigh University (where she hosted “Sunday Swing” on the campus radio station, WLVR) and a doctoral degree in genetics from Cornell University (where she enjoyed learning to jitterbug and Lindy Hop when she wasn’t in the laboratory). Donna resides in upstate New York.