Originally from the Bay Area, California, Kelly graduated from Cornell University, where she earned a B.S. in Industrial & Labor Relations with a minor in Information Science. She also completed international business studies at George Washington University and the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, with residencies in China and Japan. She is currently a Master of Science candidate in Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, where she is finalizing her capstone project on software systems.

Kelly has over seven years of corporate experience with Goldman Sachs, Adobe, a few tech startups, and most recently at Apple, having held various roles across strategy & operations, product, and engineering.