Yvette grew up in the Puget Sound region of Washington State. She is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Art where she studied painting and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1998. She currently lives in Seattle with her husband, Kim, who is an artist and fellow graduate of the University of Washington Painting Program.

"Art and Haa At.óow," the 2002 Sealaska Juried Art Show at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau, was the first art show to feature one of Yvette's works, a series of drawings entitled Short Stories.