Helouise “Halo” Matzelle was born in the city of Delft, Holland on October 19, 1964. Three months after her birth, Helo immigrated to the United States with her parents. Boarding a ship, they traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to Chicago with only two hundred dollars to their name. Her parents experienced discrimination as a result of their mixed marriage, which was illegal in eighteen states at the time. But her mom and dad loved each other, and they knew that Helo needed a sibling. In August 1966, her brother Henk was born. A few months later, she and her family moved to Seattle, Washington, where her father became a physics professor. Seven years later, they moved to Florida so that he could attend medical school; then they moved back home to Seattle.

Helo graduated from the University of Washington where she met her best friend and husband. The first time she met him, she thought he was handsome. The second time she met him, she was impressed that he had remembered her name. The third time, she thought he was cute and funny but way too playful and totally “not her type.” She was wrong about that. On April 22, 1989, Rich and Helo got married. He started his career with IBM right after college. Meanwhile, Helo worked multiple part-time jobs for months before landing a position with Bristol-Myers Squibb, a worldwide pharmaceutical company, marketing prescription medications to doctors and their staff.

Shortly after Helo had her first precious child, Lauren, she became a stay-at-home mom. Helo and Rich wanted to have more children but conceived and lost several. Later they were blessed with two amazing sons: Jordan and Austin.