Strauss-Gabel grew up in White Plains, New York, the daughter of a forensic photographer and a teacher of home economics.August 20, 2000, The New York Times, WEDDINGS; Julie Strauss-Gabel, David Feldman, Retrieved April 14, 2015 She attended Amherst College where she edited the college newspaper, The Amherst Student, and met her future husband. She graduated cum laude from Amherst, then graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
