Mark Fontes was born on December 3, 1979, in South Pasadena, California. He grew up throughout that area, later attending St John's University in New York. He worked as a broadcast journalist for fifteen years in the United States before relocating to China in 2017. Currently, he is an English teacher in Asia and property investor who splits his time between Southern China and Thailand. When not working, he enjoys bicycling, traveling, coin collecting, photography and videography.