Cressman was born in
San Francisco to jazz musicians Sandy and Jeff Cressman. When her father was part of
Carlos Santana's band, she danced onstage with him at Madison Square Garden. In her early teens, she began performing with Afro Cuban, Brazilian, and jazz bands. Cressman graduated from San Francisco's
Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. At the age of eighteen she moved to New York City to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with
Luis Bonilla, Garry Dial,
Laurie Frink, and
Wycliffe Gordon. She joined a
band led by
Trey Anastasio. She performed with
Nicholas Payton's Television Symphony Orchestra and
Peter Apfelbaum's New York Hieroglyphics Ensemble. ==References==