Debbie Apple-Presser was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. She moved to Cleveland at the age of three and grew up in University Heights where she went through the Cleveland Heights - University Heights school system and graduated from Heights High in 1975. Debbie attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison majoring in art, graduating in 1979. After graduation she opened a ceramic studio/gallery called Earthworks in Little Italy. Currently Debbie teaches at Hathaway Brown School and the Cleveland Museum of Art. One of Debbie's focuses for the past few years has been luminaries or lighted pieces made from some form of recycled material. Debbie currently lives in Cleveland Heights with her husband and three children.