Elsey earned a bachelor of arts in history and religious studies from Michigan State University in 1997.
[3] She was a recipient of the 2012 Stessin Prize for her first book, Citizens and Sportsmen: Fútbol and Politics in Twentieth Century Chile.
[5] University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Jeffery Richey, writing for the Hispanic American Historical Review, lauded Citizens and Sportsmen as the "first English-language academic monograph dealing with the history of soccer in Latin America.
"[6] Conversely, while praising the book, George Mason University's Matthew B. Karush in Social History criticized Elsey for not fully exploring Chilean soccer clubs' political radicalization.
She co-hosts the podcast Burn It All Down alongside Shireen Ahmed, Amira Rose Davis, Lindsay Gibbs, and Jessica Luther.