Kari Sayers graduated from California State University, Long Beach, with a BA in English and an MA in linguistics. She went on two tours with her husband to Saudi Arabia, where she first worked as a music teacher at Riyadh International Community School and then as a journalist for an English newspaper over there, writing under censorship.

After returning to the States, she taught ESL (English as a Second Language) at various colleges in the Los Angeles area and finally composition and literature at Marymount California University while also freelancing as a theater, concert and opera reviewer for local newspapers and magazines.

She has traveled in 70 foreign countries and 40 states in the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. She has three grown children and three young grandchildren and lives in Los Angeles with her cat.