Kelly was raised in
Washington, D.C. She is a graduate of the
National Cathedral School after which she attended
Columbia University where she received a B.A. in history in 1997. After school, she worked for
Time magazine and the
New York Observer where she wrote a weekly residential real-estate column, "Manhattan Transfers." essay adapted from the book that primarily addressed accusations about an incident with
Deborah Ramirez and another incident alleged by
Max Stier, both of which occurred at Yale. Before Kavanaugh's confirmation in October, 2018, Pogrebin, also at the
Times and a classmate of Kavanaugh at Yale, and Kelly, were featured in a podcast about what the then-judge's classmates were saying concerning his nomination to the
Supreme Court. ==Personal life==