Ada was born in the United States Virgin Islands to Puerto Rican parents. She and her family moved to the United States mainland when she was three years old. Ada grew up in and attended the public schools of Brooklyn, New York. As a young adult she moved to Manhattan, met her husband and had an only child. Upon graduating from college Ada became an early childhood teacher. This meant that she could teach grades pre-K to first. She worked at the Goddard-Riverside Head Start Center on the upper west side of Manhattan for five years before transferring to the New York City Public Schools.