Katherine Akerley was born in the United States. She obtained a bachelor's degree in Social Sciences from a private college in Pennsylvania. In 1994, Katherine moved to Montreal, Quebec and eagerly immersed herself in the French language and Quebec culture and is now fully bilingual. In Montreal, Katherine completed, with honors, a diploma in Education and a certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language at McGill University. She then taught English as a second language to adult immigrants and businesspeople before teaching English Language Arts and ESL to schoolchildren.

Katherine began translating as a volunteer at LOVE (Leave Out Violence) in 2003. Since that time, she has completed contracts individually and as part of a team in the following subject areas: architecture, communications, real estate, finance, history, art, entrepreneurship, environmental industry, human development, and revision.