Margaret Virtue Rooks, the eldest of three children, was born in 1972 to Corry Rooks and James Rooks, Jr in Bethesda, MD. A graduate of Sidwell Friends School (1986-1990), Rooks entered the Mount Holyoke College Class of 1994. In 1992, she took a medical leave, returning to Washington D.C., where she was involved in the early days of the underground feminist punk rock "Riot Grrrl" movement and began to publish her zine "Quit Whining." In 1994, Rooks returned to Mount Holyoke to major in Women's Studies. Her activities as a student included establishing a Riot Grrrl community in the Pioneer Valley and working as a student disc jockey for Mount Holyoke's radio station WMHC 91.5 FM. Rooks graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1996. She is a special education teacher in Chicopee, MA and lives with her husband Jeremy Smith in Holyoke, MA.