She graduated from Harvard University in 2008, with a bachelor's degree in social/biological anthropology and from Boston College Law School in 2013.

[1] While Cahow's mother was a professor of Endocrine Surgery at Yale University, her first exposure to the ice rink was through figure skating.

Before the Olympics, Cahow captained the United States Under-22 Select Team in 2006 after the USA Hockey National Women's Festival in Lake Placid, New York.

Caitlin last played for the JD Whale,[2] an adult recreational league based at Johnny's Ice House in Chicago, in Winter 2014–2015.

As a student at Harvard, Cahow met Boston Lobsters tennis player Nicole Pratt.

[12] Cahow, who is openly lesbian,[13] was chosen by US President Barack Obama as part of his delegation to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.