Kelly was born in Manhattan, NY and grew up in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. She studied black and white film photography in high school and SUNY Purchase where she attended college. Kelly has exhibited and shown her work in galleries, online, and in nature, photography and other print publications over the years. She is currently a member of the Center for Photography in Kingston, NY and the Women Photographers Collective of the Hudson Valley. She sells her work in the shop she runs with her husband, HappyLife Productions, in Woodstock, NY.