Elaine grew up in Australia and Singapore before returning to this country to attend Princeton University, part of the fifth entering class that included women. She went on to earn her master's degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing, and spent 35 years in the newspaper industry, working in sales and marketing at local newspapers in New Jersey before moving to Washington, D.C., to join a national newspaper leadership development institute as its first-ever marketing director. There she participated in a multi-year research and training project in partnership with Harvard University to provide newspapers with a framework for identifying and capitalizing on new revenue opportunities. In 2005, activating a long-held interest in affordable housing policy, she earned a master's degree in community planning and now, as a nationally certified and New Jersey-licensed urban planner with a consulting firm in Trenton, she spends much of her days working with municipalities across New Jersey on fair and just implementation of their affordable housing obligations. She lives in Lambertville, and outside of work and singing, she is a very slow runner, cyclist and rower.