My name at birth was Carrie Young. I was born in Covington, Kentucky, lived in Florence for the first six months of my life. Then my parents split, and my mother and I went to live with her mother in Pikeville. My mother remarried when I was six and moved away, leaving me with my grandmother. The plan was for her to come get me at the end of the school year (she married in the middle), but that never happened. I didn't want to go. My first contact with my biological father occurred when I was 11. Six months later, my grandmother adopted me. I graduated high school in 1989 and moved to Columbus, Ohio a month later. Two months into my college career I was involved in an auto accident. An 18-wheeler collided with the Chevy Blazer in which I was a passenger. That turned what should have been three years in college into seven. My right knee is toast. In 1993, I met the man I would eventually marry. In 1997, I made the decision to change my name. My biological father named me Carrie, and during the adoption, he demanded I keep the name Young. Due to events that transpired in 1992, I could no longer keep that tie to the man who spawned me. My first name I changed to Caterina - it is the name my mother had wanted for me. The last name was changed to reflect the names of the families who raised me - Runyon for the adopted family, and Spears for my mother and her new husband. Sixteen months later, I got married.

I now live in Whitehall, Ohio - a suburb of Columbus - with my husband, two teenaged step-daughters, two cats (Dee and Mina), and two rats (Coco and Yuna).