Derlys Maria Gutiérrez was born in Havana, Cuba and emigrated with her parents in 1968. Raised in a very protective environment, it was a leap of faith for her parents to allow her to attend Barnard College, Columbia University in New York City, from which she graduated in 1984. Gutiérrez then attended and graduated from Rutgers Law School and started her career in private practice as an education and labor and employment attorney representing public school districts. She now works full-time as an Associate General Counsel for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City while writing about and remembering the 1980s.
