Grace Genter of Atomica Gourmet Pizza and Wine Bar grew up in a large Lebanese family in Sydney, Nova Scotia, where all the women cooked. She learned a lot from her grandmother and still remembers staying at her grandmother's with her sister and waking up to the smell of freshly made hummus and Syrian bread. Grace learned most of what she knows from her mother who still gets up every Saturday and Sunday morning at 4am to make Lebanese food to sell.

When Grace was in high school she was unsure of what she wanted to do after graduation, until her art teacher, Mr. Kalberlah, suggested she create a cookbook and prepare something once a week to bring in to him as her final project. He was, and still is, an inspiration to Grace.

After high school, Grace attended culinary school in Halifax, Nova Scotia and following her first year there, worked at The Pines Resort in Digby, Nova Scotia. Once Grace finished her education, she spent several years working in western Canada before moving to Kingston with her boyfriend.