Ann Mullins grew up in a small town on the Mississippi River in southern Illinois. Her family moved to Chicago when she was seven, where they lived in Hyde Park for several years until moving to the northern suburbs. She graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, and then spent a year in Europe at the American School in Lugano, Switzerland. She went on to attend Wells College in Aurora, New York, and graduated with a degree in mathematics and a minor in music. After graduation, Ms. Mulllins lived in Colorado for several years before returning to school to obtain an M.L.A. from Utah State University, Logan, Utah. She worked in Boston for Roy Mann Associates for a year after graduation and then in Seattle for Jones and Jones for three years. Ms. Mullins returned to Massachusetts to work for Sasaki Associates in Cambridge and remained there until she moved to Denver and co-founded Civitas, in 1984. After leaving Civitas, she worked as Campus Landscape Architect for the University of Colorado at Boulder. Ms. Mullins has two grown sons, and is currently working and living in Aspen, Colorado.