Arnine Cumsky Weiss grew up in Wilkes-Barre, PA, but moved to Philadelphia after college to pursue a career as a teacher of the deaf. She met a man on a blind date, who became her husband, and moved to Scranton, PA. She has experienced both big city and small town living, the dichotomy of which is part of She Ain't Heavy. When her eldest son, Matthew, was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of six, she was prompted to write her first book, Becoming a Bar Mitzvah. Recently, she moved to New York City and has been working as an interpreter and teaching English at a bakery in Harlem.