Riley is a member of Citizen Potawatomi Nation and a descendant of the Pettifer family.
[2][3] From 2010 to 2015, Riley served as Director of University of California, Los Angeles's (UCLA) American Indian Studies Center.
[2] In 2022, she became a special advisor to the university's Chancellor on Native American and Indigenous Affairs.
[4] Riley's research focuses on indigenous rights, particularly cultural property and Native governance.
[2] Riley has served as an evidentiary hearing officer for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.