Heinen has been a lifelong student of art and art history. Heinen has studied at Douglass College in New Jersey, the Cleveland Institute of Art, and Ursuline College where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts. She then studied at the Instituto de Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and with the famous German American artist Wolf Kahn in Maine. She continues to further her education and garner inspiration for her work through extensive travel all over the world.