Deborah is a native New Yorker who grew up in the Dominican Republic, studying at Padre Fortín Catholic School in Santiago until she turned 15. Returning to the U.S., she graduated from high school in Yonkers, N.Y. and received a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree with a photography concentration from Pace University. Deborah now lives in Chicago where she received a Masters of Fine Arts in photography in May 2006 from Columbia College. Deborah is a teaching artist for Center for Community Arts Partnership (CCAP) with their Arts Integration Mentorship Project. This project partners with classroom teachers from elementary public schools, and co-creates arts-integrated curriculum that promotes reading and writing through the arts. She is the photography-teaching artist at Gallery 37, a program that links the arts with Chicago Public Schools Advanced Arts Education for high school students who are accepted into this program for college credits. Deborah is an adjunct part-time professor of photography at Columbia College Chicago. Deborah is a founding member of the artist collective, Standard Usage Project based in Chicago.  Deborah has exhibited nationally and has been the recipient of honors and grants.