Kelly is an indigenous Nasa. She completed her Master’s studies as a scholarship holder of the Generalitat Valenciana in International Peace, Conflict and Development Studies and was a doctoral researcher for the European Research Council at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. In addition, she was a fellow in the Human Rights Training Program for Indigenous Peoples of Latin America of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

She received a scholarship from the Anne Marie Deruyttere Indigenous Peoples Foundation to pursue an Expert Degree in Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights and International Cooperation at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. She was recruited as a fellow for the Senior Fellowship Program of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Her initial training was in Sociology at the Universidad Externado de Colombia.

Kelly has held key roles as an advisor and researcher at ONIC’s Consejería de Derechos Humanos, Paz y Pueblos Indígenas, and as Project Director at the Uma Kiwe Foundation. Her areas of interest include human rights, international cooperation, peace, indigenous methodologies and ethnic peoples’ rights. Kelly is a member of the research service of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid on Indigenous Peoples in Colombia and internationally.