[2] Rivera grew up in Visalia, California and went to an Episcopal convent boarding school in Tucson, Arizona.

Instead of pursuing a career in physics, she dedicated herself to her two daughters and two sons and volunteer work that included convening a youth group for church in her home and bookkeeping.

Being raised within the religious beliefs of the Episcopal Church served as an influential factor when she decided that she wanted to become a priest.

However, one of the obstacles that she would have to face was convincing her father, at that time the Bishop of San Joaquin, and a staunch opponent of the ordination of women.

She served as the Rector of St. George's Episcopal Church, Salinas, in California's Diocese of El Camino Real, from 1984 to 1993.

As a member of the diocesan's "We Will Stand With You team", she provided the leadership and support for ongoing fund-raising to rebuild St. Paul's Episcopal Church and School in New Orleans that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

She helped to start an initiative to get the diocese to buy 30,000 malaria nets to be distributed in African countries.

[14] Bishop Rivera served as the Bishop Protector of the Community of St. Francis [15] (Province of the Americas), part of an international community of women in the Anglican Communion, who seek to live the Gospel life fervently in the Church and the world, after the example of St Francis of Assisi.