Cindy was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up swimming in the shadows of the hyperboloid cooling towers on the shores of Lake Erie. After completing high school, she studied literature at the University of Toledo, earning a bachelor's degree English. At 23, she moved to Mississippi to enroll in the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she earned a master's degree in creative writing. Upon graduation, she spent a year abroad in London, England, then moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she taught at Georgia Military College. After a teaching at Valdosta State University, she entered the Ph.D. program in creative writing at Florida State University. After graduating, she held teaching positions at Auburn University, Berry College, and the University of Tampa, where she was poetry editor for the Tampa Review. She served as an Assistant Professor of English at the University of North Texas in Dallas until 2016, when she moved to Hurricane, Utah, and then to St. George, where she is currently an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Dixie State University and faculty advisor of The Southern Quill, DSU's literary arts journal. She also enjoys serving as the faculty advisor of DSU's creative writing club and as an advocate for creative writing in her community.