In her early days, Rachel studied art through Pratt Institute in Tuscany, worked as an HIV test counselor in San Francisco, did musicology research at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, and spent a year studying French literature at the Sorbonne. She holds a degree in French Studies from Smith College. Nowadays, in her spare time, Rachel can be found spending time with her husband and friends, cooking and baking, hiking and biking, doing classical Pilates, keeping up with her French, reading, tending to her burgeoning fruit orchard, or snuggling with her three rescue dogs. She lives with her husband and beloved partner of 18 years, Mark, in a beautiful 1928 home in the Oakland Hills.