Sandra Harris was born in 1952 in West Virginia, where her father was a coal miner. Her family moved to Ann Arbor when she was in second grade. Harris remembers being on the homecoming court at Pioneer High School and participating in student-led marches during the late 1960s.

Ruth (née Dorsey) Carey was born in 1937 and grew up in West Virginia, Georgia, and Ohio. She attended Greenbelt College in Illinois and nursing school in Cleveland, Ohio. She and her husband had two children and moved to Ann Arbor to pursue graduate education. She graduated from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and went on to teach at the School of Nursing. She is passionate about educating new parents about health and nutrition.