Merritt was born in Indiana, and after high school left home to study Fine Arts, Psychology and Fashion Design. She lived in Chicago, Seattle, Boston, New York, Austin, and Boulder until finding her home in San Francisco.


During this time she started three businesses, and worked as a fashion/costume designer, writer, glassblower, artistic director, singer/songwriter and photographer. She rarely stayed with one medium for long, until she found photography which allows her to wrap most of the elements of what she loves to do into one field.

“Photography is rich in terms of psychology, and I often wind up learning as much about my self as I do my models. Often during sessions there is a kind of intimacy that transpires which can sometimes raise internal insecurities, and also be empowering and intense -- what you do with that energy determines everything. As a professor once said to me, "Your model will never go to places inside themselves where you yourself are not able to go."
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She also free-lances as a photojournalist, and has traveled for 3 years on her motorcycle across the continents of Africa, South and Central America and western Europe with her boyfriend, Pierre Saslawsky. “It is one of the greatest experiences I have had -- delving into the beliefs people hold in regards to cultures, religion, politics and gender related issues. Like peeling back layers of the human psyche.” Grooms has been published in Kenya, South America, and the US -- most notably the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Her travel web site is photobiker.com