Kent Mesplay was born and raised in Papua New Guinea to Lutheran Missionary parents. He graduated Valedictorian from Mira Mesa High School in 1980. In college, he studied Western and non-Western medicine, earning a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University and he obtained an undergrad degree in Engineering is from Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, California. After graduate school, Mesplay suffered through a long period of unemployment as he worked to develop a funded position for himself at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Long Beach, California, before moving to La Mesa and teaching mathematics in the Grossmont Union High School District. He currently works as an Air Quality Inspector at the Air Pollution Control District, in San Diego.