Judy Hoy grew up on a cattle ranch and learned at a young age what constitutes normal development in newborn animals. When she was 20, she worked in a large hospital nursery caring for newborn children for 6 months to earn money for college, giving her an education in a normal newborn human's anatomy. She began her adult career as an elementary school teacher and taught in grades 4 through 6 for 12 years. She also was a wildlife artist and a wildlife rehabilitator, mainly in the summer months. Judy's husband, Bob, is a wildlife biologist and worked until he retired as a game warden for Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Judy wrote the book Changing Faces to help bring attention to the multiple birth defects and serious health effects now occurring on newborns of vertebrate and invertebrate species and to the consequences to the biodiversity and face of the planet of overusing pesticides (umbrella term).