At a very early age, Mary-Anne was drawn to the church community even though her parents were not. In high school she became a Southern Baptist. She ran into the Bah#225;'#237; Faith in her 20's. She tells the story of how she was able to transcend her fundamentalist Christian beliefs to become a Bah#225;'#237;. She is currently completing her B.S. in Elementary Education; lived in China for over a year and taught English at two universities; she is on the Board of Directors of MicroSteps, a non-profit that provides educational opportunities to under-served populations; and she is on the Board of the Sino-Judaic Institute, a non-denominational, non-political and non-profit organization which was founded in 1985 by a group of international scholars and lay persons for the purpose of promoting understanding between Chinese and Jewish peoples and to encourage and develop their cooperation in matters of mutual historic and cultural interest.