[1] Born in Seattle and raised in Spokane, Washington,[2] by a single mother,[3] Eid initially attended the University of Idaho before transferring to Stanford University, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in American studies with distinction in 1987 and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

[4] After graduating, she served as a special assistant and speechwriter to President Ronald Reagan's secretary of education, William Bennett.

[1][6] After graduating from law school, Eid served as a law clerk for Judge Jerry Edwin Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and then for justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States.

[22] Eid met her husband, Troy Eid, when he was standing in line at a Stanford University dorm cafeteria while she was working as a student food service worker and he was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Stanford Daily; she later said: "It was love at first sight in the meal card line.

"[23] In 2006, a few months after Allison Eid was appointed to the Colorado Supreme Court, President George W. Bush appointed Troy Eid as the 41st United States attorney for the District of Colorado and the first Egyptian-American U.S. attorney in the country's history.