Debbie Schwarz grew up in Kelowna and studied at Walla Walla College, where she graduated with a nutrition care degree. She used this training for 20 years as the director of food service for Sunnyside Nursing Home (Saskatoon) and Sherwood Care (Sherwood Park, Alberta). Adventures took her to Hong Kong for six years, where she taught English as a Second Language at Hong Kong Adventist College and worked at Adventist World Radio, producing English radio programming. Following that, she spent four years in Uganda at Bugema University, teaching ESL and working for the vice chancellor of Academics. She has worked as an administrative assistant to the president and the vice president for Administration of the Alberta Conference for ten years this October.