Leo Bersamina was born in San Francisco, California and grew up surfing and fishing on the coast, just south of the city. Leo studied art and design in Santa Cruz and finished his BA with an emphasis in Studio Art at San Francisco State University. He received an MFA in Painting at Yale School of Art in New Haven, Connecticut. Leo has taught studio art at UC Berkeley and Yale, Stanford, Pont-Aven School of Contemporary Art, and Santa Rosa Junior College. He is currently a tenured instructor at Diablo Valley College and continues to exhibit nationally and internationally.