Patricia was born and raised in Rennes, France, where she studied business at the University of Rennes. From 1977 to 1980, she taught French at a college in Rochester NY. Returning to France, she worked as a technical translator for a pharmaceutical company in the south of France and also worked in Grenoble on a computer-aided design project financed by the European Community. She moved to California with her family in 1988. She has taught French at all levels.