Kelli Jones grew up in the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and joined the U.S. Navy at eighteen. She served as a Master Helmsman onboard the USS Ronald Reagan, deploying twice to the Gulf of Oman and acting as a first responder during the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. After her honorable discharge, she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from California State University, Northridge. She is an alum of both the Native American Media Alliance TV Writers Program and the Writers Guild Foundation’s Veterans Writing Project, as well as the recipient of the Native American Writers Accelerator Grant (Netflix). Most recently, she was a finalist for the NBC TV Writers Program. Kelli is a proud citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.