Jacqueline was born in Dortmund and spent her childhood between the Sauerland and Ruhr regions. After graduating from high school, she moved to Landau in the Palatinate, where she studied to become a primary school teacher at the university of Koblenz-Landau.

After successfully completing her degree, she did her traineeship at an inner-city school in Ludwigshafen. At the same time, she trained her dog as a school and therapy dog. Together with her service dog, she worked there for several years as a civil servant primary school teacher.

Due to a career opportunity for her husband, the whole family moved to the suburbs of Chicago after the birth of their 2nd son.