Kelis is an attorney and specialist in Administrative Law from Universidad Libre de Colombia. She holds a Master’s Degree in Law with an emphasis in Critical Race Studies and International and Comparative Law from the University of California, Los Angeles -UCLA- (USA). Also, she is a Master’s candidate in Administrative Law.

She was a fellow at the IACHR and, later, at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. In the public sector, she has worked at the Ombudsman’s Office, SENA, the Women’s Secretariat of the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá, INCODER, and the Mayor’s Office of Pereira.

Currently, she is the coordinator of the Ethnic-Racial Justice Line of Dejusticia. Her areas of interest include ethnic affairs, territorial rights, agrarian, administrative, international, and human rights law. She was a member and scholarship recipient of the Racial Discrimination Observatory.