​Kelli has lived in Baltimore County for almost 17 years. Kelli moved to Baltimore County in 2009 to be near her family and earn her M.A in Applied Sociology. She intended to return to Colorado afterward, but life had other plans.

In 2010, Kelli's stepmother and brothers were returning to Maryland from a family event in Ohio, when they were struck by a semi truck. Her stepmother was killed. Her youngest brother, Matthew, sustained a severe traumatic brain injury. In the months and years that followed, she became his caregiver and his advocate — learning to navigate medical systems, legal systems, and educational systems on his behalf, in moments of enormous fear and uncertainty.

That experience changed her. She learned how to walk into rooms where she held very little power, ask the right questions, challenge the assumptions that weren’t serving her brother, and build the relationships he would need for the rest of his life — all while keeping those relationships intact. And she realized: most families never have to build these skills. But every family deserves someone who has.

In 2015 she married her husband, whom she met when they were both teaching in Baltimore City Public Schools. Together they have a large, loud, and very fun family with six children, five grandchildren and one more on the way. 

Two of their children and one grandchild currently attend Baltimore County Public Schools. She volunteers in her children's school as a room parent and is active in the PTA. She can be found shelving books in the library, reading with students in the hallway or decorating the school for the next holiday.