After finishing a Bachelor of Arts in Art History at the University of Illinois-Chicago in 1993, Deborah transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she discovered a love of ceramics. She became an adjunct professor of Ceramics and Ceramic History while she finished her graduate work, and earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in 2000. After a move to Brussels, Belgium, she settled in Taos, New Mexico, where she honed her skills in large-scale narrative ceramic sculpture. Deborah has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally, and is represented in public and private collections. She lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico.