Sally Kidd did her degree in education at Cambridge University. She is a trained teacher who taught for twenty years in Birmingham, London, and Cambridge. After teaching, Sally worked in higher education at the University of Birmingham for a decade as an Outreach and Schools' Liaison Officer, Admissions Tutor for Mathematics, and latterly Head of Operations for the faculty of Chemical Engineering. She lived in New Jersey for two years in the 90s and has three children, all of whom attended prestigious universities and have gone on to careers they are happy in. She currently lives in the north of England.