Francesca Gelsomina Ruscio was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Mirella DiFulvio-Ruscio was born in Fara Filiorum Petri, Abruzzo, Italy and her father, Pasquale Ruscio is the son of Italian immigrants. She is also of Balkan-Romani and Middle Eastern decent. In 2013, Francesca Ruscio was crowned Miss Philadelphia under the Miss America Organization and served as a local ambassador for Children's Miracle Network hospitals. Presently, she still works with Veteran charities and CMN Hospitals and established her own non-profit called Veterans On The Move. Her non-profit aims to provide advocacy and funding for programs that help rehabilitate physically and mentally paralyzed veterans back into society, through recreational sports. Francesca graduated with a bachelor's degree from Temple University in the city of Philadelphia where she majored in broadcast journalism minoring in theater. She has professionally studied music for over 15 years and is a trained classical singer. Her original plan was to be a journalist in Philadelphia or New York City. After some early film appearances, she booked her first principle role in director Joe Gawalis's film, Bare Knuckle Brawler, with Machete's Danny Trejo and Karate Kid's Martin Kove.