Mary Beth Koeth was born in 1982 in Ohio, the youngest of five kids whose names all begin with M. Her parents, Mike and Marlene, moved to Texas when she was one, and she quickly embraced the Texas uniform: cowboy boots and a slight food stain on the lower bottom corner of her shirt.

She spent three and a half years at Texas Tech University and a semester in Florence dreaming about hot make-out sessions in the darkroom, but came out with a Design Communication degree instead.

Armed with visions of power suits and briefcases, Mary Beth moved to Kansas City to work as a designer for Hallmark Cards, and later moved overseas to work for Hallmark UK.

Koeth spent her weekends traveling Europe with a camera in hand and soon realised her goal of going back to school to pursue photography seemed fathomable. She spent two and a half months in Norway assisting photographer Nancy Bundt and observing tall, blond men. She's also interned for Miami photographer Sid Hoeltzell and Joe Pugliese in Los Angeles.

She now lives out of two suitcases, calling Miami and Dallas home.