Ali grew up playing soccer, swimming, and running along the rocky trails of eastern Pennsylvania. After earning a bachelor’s degree in photography from Drexel University in Philadelphia, she moved west to work as a reporter at a local newspaper in Polson, Montana. Surrounded by rugged, towering mountains, clear, rushing rivers, and communities with deep generational ties to the land, Ali spent the next decade immersing herself in the outdoors, with her loyal dog, Lucy, always by her side.

A graduate of the Alexander Blewett School of Law in Missoula, Ali eventually turned her passion for conservation into a career in environmental law. She is dedicated to protecting the West’s wild places, critical ecosystems, and iconic wildlife from the destruction caused by extractive industries.