In the early 1980s, primary school teacher and director Candace Carpenter moved to Boulder, Colorado with her young daughter. She was to join psychiatrist Dr. Edward Podvoll and a team of psychologists at Boulder’s Naropa Institute who were working together to develop an innovative approach to caring for people in psychological crisis. There she met and studied with her first Buddhist teacher, the Venerable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and she and Ed Podvoll, a close disciple of Trungpa Rinpoche, were wed.

Candace and Ed traveled together to India in 1990 in search of an ideal retreat situation only to be told it awaited them... in France. So to France they went to meet the great meditation master Lama Gendun Rinpoche and request his guidance. They found Rinpoche at his monastic hermitage Dhagpo Kundreul Ling in Auvergne, central France. Deeply inspired, Candace took monastic vows (as did Ed) and was given the name Ani Khedrub Zangmo meaning “Excellent Clever and Accomplished One”. In 1997, after completing her second 3-year retreat Khedrub moved into Dhagpo Kundreul Ling’s women's monastery. From this home base she began teaching Buddhism in centers, schools and organizations in Europe and the US.

In 2000, Khedrub moved back to the US to serve as resident teacher at the Santa Barbara Buddhist Center. While there, she traveled, taught and helped found the San Luis Obispo and Pasadena Buddhist Centers. Born and bred in the Los Angeles area, Khedrub, now a lay teacher, currently lives in Pasadena with her partner, daughter and two wonderful granddaughters. She serves as Pasadena’s resident teacher.