Caitlin Gilligan was born and raised in upstate New York. She attended Colgate University where she majored in Political Science and minored in Applied Mathematics, and spent a semester working in Washington D.C. at the U.S. State Department. After graduating, she worked for the New York State Senate and the Empire Center for Public Policy in Albany, NY. Caitlin currently works in county government, tutors high school math students, and coaches travel softball.