Rochelle (Kathleen) Theunissen was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. She attended Holy Rosary Convent (later called Trinity High School) in Port Elizabeth. In 1985 she attended Dower Teacher Training College in Port Elizabeth and completed a 3 year Teacher’s Diploma in Education - specialising in Physical Education.

She taught for approximately 2 years before embarking on a 14 month “working-holiday” trip to Israel and Europe. During her travels she worked as an au-pair and waitress in England, shop assistant and waitress in Greece, and as a volunteer on a kibbutz in Israel.

In 1992 she moved to Holland where she worked part-time as a preparatory and gymnastics teacher, while studying towards an Honours Degree in Education - with English as a major. After her studies, Rochelle worked as a Call Centre Operator for 6 months before she taught English for 5 years at a Senior Secondary School in The Netherlands. Whilst working as a teacher she also freelanced for an English Language Institute. During this period she established a home-industry with a colleague making clay-baked hand prints for adults and children.

In 2005 Rochelle returned to South Africa. She taught the Reception Phase for 6 months at a primary school in Port Elizabeth. When her partner, Herman Timmermans was offered a job with UN-Habitat, they moved to Pretoria in August 2005. She travelled extensively with her partner through Southern Africa and did some voluntary work in the Development field.  In 2006 Rochelle did a short-term consultancy as a Researcher/Facilitator for the SANPAD (South African-Netherlands Programme on Initiatives in Development) in Durban. In April 2006 she worked for IBM (South Africa) as an Integrated Delivery Centre First Line Manager.

In May 2007 Rochelle and her partner embarked on a work period of 12 months in Fiji. While her partner worked for UNDP as a Disaster Risk Management Technical Advisor, she did two short-term consultancies compiling and producing two Human Resources Management Manuals. She was also an executive committee member for UN-LESA (United Nations Local Expatriate Spouses Association) in Fiji.

Rochelle and her partner returned to South Africa in July 2008. In October of the same year she joined him in Papua New Guinea where she again did some voluntary work in the Development field. She is currently studying towards a Masters Degree in Development Studies at NMMU in Port Elizabeth. Despite her busy schedule, she plans to continue writing, and hopefully get published one day.