Johanna O'Mahony was born in the Kilmichael Bar in Bandon in 1946, the third of six children. She entered the Convent of Mercy Kinsale in October 1965 – the year of her Leaving Cert. In 1974 she left the convent and spent some time working in the Kilmichael Bar before going to Wales and a teaching job in Milford Haven. She has lived there for thirty years and retired from teaching in 1996.