Carol was born in Chicago. After receiving her B.A. from the University of Oklahoma, she spent a year as a VISTA volunteer in rural Nebraska, working on community projects with the elderly. She then returned to the Chicago area where she worked with older adults at the Jane Addams Hull House in Uptown. She received her M.S.W. from the University of Illinois in Chicago. For the next fourteen years she worked as a medical social worker in acute care hospitals. Then after working for eight years at Council for Jewish Elderly in Chicago, she began developing affordable housing for seniors. Carol lives in Evanston, Illinois.