She graduated cum laude from St. Olaf College in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Family Studies with a concentration in Women's Studies.  She also earned a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Colorado State University in 1995.  Ms. Ellison is a published poet and essayist and the editor of two oral history collections.  Prior to law school, she was a consultant to Columbia University's development office, a principal gifts fundraiser for St. Olaf College, and the manager of training services at SunGard BSR, Inc. 

Ms. Ellison has volunteered with the Refugee and Immigrant program at The Advocates for Human Rights, worked as a law clerk for the Ramsey County Public Defender’s office, and as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Diane Alshouse in the Second Judicial District.  Ms. Ellison has worked in various capacities with inner-city youth, developmentally disabled adults, Latino/a youth in Arizona, Latina women in Colorado, refugees and immigrants, and indigent adults and juveniles facing criminal charges.  As an intern in the Refugee and Immigrant Program, Ms. Ellison assisted Michele Garnett McKenzie in researching and writing the Legal Services Chapter, in Healing the Hurt: A Guide for Developing Services for Torture Survivors, published by the Center for Victims of Torture. 

Ms. Ellison's interest in human rights was initially ignited during an educational trip to El Salvador and Nicaragua where she met with and heard the stories of the “Mothers of the Disappeared”, of refugees of war who had recently repatriated to El Salvador, of gay and lesbian youth in Nicaragua, and of women who worked at a rural infants and maternity hospital in Nicaragua.