As a working class kid from Arizona with a punk rock older sister at the helm, she was no stranger to thrift stores. She still remembers the first vintage garment she sold at a profit: a heather-gray, 1970s Volkswagen ringer tee to Buffalo Exchange, then just a fledging new store in Phoenix. It was love at first score. Maresa plundered thrift stores compulsively into her teens until the obsession became a profession. Hired to buy high end vintage collections for Urban Outfitters, and to source their reconstructed garment lines, Maresa was soon in demand as a vintage specialist. She ran vintage departments in some of the largest textile processing factories on the east coast until in 2012 she decided to start trading under her own brand. Thus, the Dusty Rose Vintage was born.