Rhoda was originally trained as a pianist (Settlement School of Music, Philadelphia, with Marian Filar, protégé of Walter Gieseking; BMus. Temple University; MMus. Indiana University, Bloomington, with Menahem Pressler, Beaux Arts Trio), and subsequently spent a number of years performing and teaching.  She has taught at every level: elementary: junior and senior high school; conservatory and university (Louisville; Indiana at South Bend; Hunter College, Bronx). Rhoda has lived in Kentucky, Indiana, New York/New Jersey, London (UK) and has spent considerable time in California.

On moving to Toronto in 1968 she obtained accreditation for teaching early childhood education. Subsequently she taught kindergarten, then ESL to immigrant children. She studied Creative Writing at York University (1985-87), with Janette Turner Hospital, and Canadian Governor General’s Award winner Helen Weinzweig, who became a mentor. Rhoda has been published in such journals as The Fiddlehead, Dandelion and The Louisville Review, as well as other literary publications in Canada and the U.S.. One of her stories, The Day of the Gorgon, (Jewish Currents; New York) was nominated for a Pushcart prize. Aspects of Nature was a finalist in the 1994 Canadian Writers Union Short Prose Competition.

For the past fifteen years she has been a member of Democrats Abroad, serving as a delegate to conventions to elect Clinton/Gore (1996); Gore/Lieberman (2000); Kerry/Edwards (2004) and Obama/Biden (2009). She lives in Toronto with her husband Joseph and enjoys being an active participant in the lives of her children and three grandchildren.

Rhoda’s novel, Moon Over Mandalay, was published by Busker Books in 2008.