Okolloh was born into a relatively poor family.[11][12] She has said that her parents sent her to a private elementary school that they could "barely afford," which "set the foundation for what ended up being my career."[12] She earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh and graduated from Harvard Law School in 2005.[6][9] Her father died of AIDS in 1999.[11][12] Okolloh lives in Nairobi, Kenya, with her husband and three children.[11]