While pursuing her undergraduate degree as a student in the LSA Honors College at the University of Michigan, Katie was active in the performing arts, studied abroad in Italy, and participated in the AIESEC international leadership program in Budapest, Hungary. Additionally, she was a lifeguard and taught scuba diving, and after college, she was a marine biology teacher and sailing assistant at Newfound Harbor Marine Institute in Big Pine Key, Florida.

Katie went on to earn her Juris Doctor from the Indiana University School of Law, serving as the Articles Editor of the Indiana Journal of Law & Social Equality and volunteering with the local Community Kitchen in Bloomington. During her second and third years in law school, Katie clerked for two law firms, including a medical malpractice defense group at a large Detroit firm where she developed a talent for reviewing and analyzing medical records, particularly in birth trauma cases.