Karie Kranick Esmann was born in Detroit, Michigan and grew up in the small country town of Dryden, Michigan. In 2003 she married her childhood friend Dave Esmann. A graduate of Mott Community College in 2001, she went on to receive her Bachelor degree in Nursing from Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey. In addition to being a BSN, RN, Karie is a photographer, producer, and actress ("Monster" and "Cemetery Stories"). Karie and her husband Dave Esmann, also a photographer and producer, created their photography company Forgotten Photography, LLC in 2004, specializing in photographing old insane asylums. With permission from the asylum owners, Karie and Dave photo-documented many insane asylums and donated their photos to the National Library of Medicine archives. In 2007, several of their photos of Trenton Psychiatric Hospital were displayed in The Trenton City Museum exhibit "A Mind's Injustice: Or, the Minds in Justice" in Trenton, NJ. In 2011, they displayed more of their photos of Trenton Psychiatric Hospital in the Red Mill Museum Village exhibit "Three Centuries of Mental Health in NJ" in Clinton, NJ. In 2018, Karie and her husband created their production company Forgotten Photography Studios, LLC, producing the Michigan independent film "Cemetery Stories". In addition to the role of producer for "Cemetery Stories", Karie also held the roles of on-set photographer, on-set nurse, location manager, and actress.