Di was born in Tucson, Arizona, in 1961. She is the oldest of four children. After high school, she became a firefighter and volunteered to teach water safety to disabled children as part of their physical education curriculum. Her interest in teaching was sparked and she began taking education classes. She went to work as an educational tech in a self-contained BD classroom. She and her daughter moved to Silver City, where she attended WNMU to earn a BS degree in Special Education. They moved to Ansbach, Germany, where she was a substitute teacher at the Ansbach American Elementary School. After returning to the US, she taught at-risk students in Safford, Arizona. In 1993, she began teaching in Animas. She married Dennis Massey and helped raise their three teenagers while starting over with two little boys! In 1998, she earned her MA degree from WNMU. She loves her job as Title I teacher and hopes to continue to improve the program.