Born in 1927 in New Orleans, Ruth Fertel had a passion for science. At age 19, she enrolled at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where she majored in chemistry with a minor in physics. After college, Ruth taught briefly at McNeese Junior College in Lake Charles, Louisiana, but left to marry and start a family.

Fourteen years later, Ruth divorced and reentered the workforce as a lab technician at Tulane Medical School in New Orleans. Four years later, convinced the position could not provide enough income to send her two sons to college, she decided to go into business for herself.