Jan Cota is a Southern California native. She grew up in the San Gabriel Valley and graduated from Bishop Amat High School. While a member of the Immaculate Heart Community, she earned a B.A. from Immaculate Heart College.

While teaching for Los Angeles Unified Schools, she attended graduate school at the University of California at Northridge and received a teaching credential from the State of California. This is her 30th year of teaching, her 27th Kindergarten class and her 13th year at Our Lady of Refuge.

Mrs. Cota resides in Newport Beach with her husband, Jim. They are frequent visitors to New York and San Francisco where their daughters, Carrie and Caitlin, have made their homes.