While in school she excelled on the girls' softball team as a pitcher and claims that she was able to defeat most of the boys in her classes at arm wrestling.

After obtaining credentials as a beautician she moved first to Phoenix, Arizona, and later to La Jolla, California, where she eventually started her bodybuilding career.

[1][4] At the age of 26, she joined her first gym in Phoenix, Arizona to stay in shape and a female personal trainer put her on a program and showed her how to train.

She never thought about competing as a bodybuilder until after she was persuaded by a trainer in a gym in San Diego in 1996, and after having completed Tony Robbins personal power program.

Debbie was a prominent character in the Learning Channel's documentary Supersize She, which focused on her friend and professional female bodybuilder Joanna Thomas.