A former teacher with a degree in French, Tessa spent several years living in an uptown Brooklyn neighborhood, frequenting its many cafes and coffee shops and getting to know it from the inside and out. During her undergraduate years, she has worked at a bakery just like the one depicted in her novel, where she developed a lifelong fondness for cheesecake brownies. 

These days, when not writing, she loves to be outside exploring hiking trails, often wandering off the beaten path. Her other passions include baking, learning foreign languages, and reading.