Ali Cridge was born in Philadelphia and moved to Syracuse at the age of six. As a child she spent many happy times in the Adirondacks. At peace near mountains and snow, she attended Middlebury College in Vermont, and earned a B.A. in English (with detours in creative writing and film) and a minor in Political Science. Ali played Division III Tennis and studied abroad for a year in Bristol, England. She needed travel funds and found her coolest summer job fighting forest fires on a helicopter crew in Arizona, Idaho and Montana. Maybe life felt complete out West, because in her 20s she lived in Colorado and Montana (and in the back of a pick-up truck nomading up the coast.) This was the decade that Ali worked as a paralegal, journalist, copywriter, writing tutor, communications consultant, and served OG coffee.

In May 2019, Ali earned an Executive Master of Public Administration with a Certificate of Advanced Study in Conflict Resolution from Maxwell, Ali feels privileged to teach for Honors, volunteer as a PARCC facilitator, teach Summer College, and participate in processes within the Office of Community Standards.