Charalee Graydon was born in Alberta, Canada. She holds degrees in arts and law. Following receipt of a Rhodes scholarship in 1982, Charalee pursued post-graduate legal studies in Oxford, England. She held academic positions in England, New Zealand, and Canada and practised law in Canada. She developed programmes for students, judges and the public and published academic works on legal issues and crime and punishment. She created and taught a course at the University of Alberta on sentencing and has given radio and television interviews on this topic. She holds a diploma in Freelance and Feature Writing from the London School of Journalism and is a journalist for an on-line photography agency.