Katie Marks first came to Ithaca College when she was 17 and graduated with a degree in Planned Studies and a minor in Writing. It was the Personal Essay class she took as a junior that helped her realized the kind of writer and teacher she wanted to be. After receiving an M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College, she returned to her alma mater, where she has taught since 2005. Her essays have appeared in The Written Wardrobe, Blue Moon, and Massage Magazine. She is also a practicing massage therapist and teaches massage at Cornell.