Ozawa received her BA degree in Latin American Studies and Spanish from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts in 1985. After college and work and travel in four Latin American countries, she returned to San Francisco and worked for over 7 years as a social service provider and community activist. In 1988, she co-founded LYRIC, the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center (San Francisco), now the largest gay youth organization in the United States.

Ozawa earned her Master of Fine Art degree in 1997 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work is primarily sculpture and installation which include kinetic and viewer-activated sculpture, politically-inspired work and art with recycled materials. Ozawa maintains a studio in Oakland, CA, and has shown her artwork in Northern California, Chicago, Baltimore, and Tokyo, Japan. She is also an active drummer and electric bassist.