Elizabeth Brinkama writes Biz Buzz, the local-business column, for the Voice.

Elizabeth was born and raised in Claremont, California. She survived four years all girls Catholic high school relatively unscathed.... except for continued disdain of navy blue polyester and secret desire to be Stella Stevens' character Sister George in Where Angels Go Trouble Follows.

Since she was neither a Valley Girl nor a beach babe, Elizabeth was asked to leave the state. She moved to Colorado and earned a degree in English at The Colorado College.

Having achieved the ability to read a book and write a paper in one day, Elizabeth moved to DC with classmate only to discover the day before their journey that she didn't know how to drive—whereupon she mastered, without artificial stimulants, the ability to drive an 18' U-Haul with a car attached over 2,000 miles. 

Not surprisingly, she decided to stay in the DC area indefinitely.