Joanna Storm was born in San Diego, California. Storm was initially raised by foster parents who adopted her when she was four days old. Joanna's adoptive mother died when she was only five years old and Storm grew up in a variety of different families throughout her tumultuous childhood. Joanna left home at age thirteen and spent the bulk of her teenage years growing up on the streets. During this time Storm also made angel dust, sold marijuana to sailors on the pier, and even transported machine guns across the Mexican border. Joana married a seventeen-year-old man at age fifteen. After her husband got arrested and sent to prison, Storm went off to Cody, Wyoming and got a job as a bartender prior to moving again to Texas where she worked at a bar called The Water Hole.