Tailfeathers was born in 1960 or 1961 She grew up on tribal lands, where alcohol is prohibited, and recalls other community members becoming
bootleggers to earn money. She recalls at the age of 12 driving her father to the bootlegger's so he could buy gin to help with a hangover. Her father stopped drinking in the early 1980s after a court order to do so. Tailfeathers has described her approach to treating addiction as informed by her father's struggles with alcohol. She earned a bachelor's degree in Native American Studies from the
University of Lethbridge, before marrying
Bjarne Store-Jakobsen, whom she had met at the 1981
World Council of Indigenous Peoples assembly in Australia, and moving to Norway. After the death of her brother, who had been a medical student and had encouraged her to study medicine, she earned a medical degree at the
University of North Dakota and did a residency in family medicine at the
University of Alberta. == Career ==