Sterna Citron comes from distinguished families on both her paternal and maternal sides. Her late father, Rabbi Eli Chaim Carlebach, was a scholar, writer, and publisher. The Carlebach family was one of the most outstanding rabbinic families of Germany. Her maternal grandfather, Rabbi Shneur Zalman Schneerson, was descended from the founder of Chabad Chasidism, the Baal HaTanya, and from Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev. He was the cousin of the present Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Citron is a teacher at Bais Yaakov High School for Girls in Los Angeles, California, as well as the editor of The Jewish Reader, a magazine for children.