Jennifer Packard was born in Minnesota. She earned her bachelor's degree at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. She also holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and is working on a masters degree in gastronomy at Boston University. Jennifer spent nearly twenty years working in marketing in the food industry and currently does freelance writing on food issues. Since 1999, she has called the Boston area her home. Jennifer loves to make up new recipes which she tests out on her husband and three teen-aged sons.