Cottrell was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up in Ohio and Texas before his family moved to Arizona.

At the age of twelve, Cottrell persuaded then-Senator Dean Martin to introduce an idea for legislation as part of a homework project for a student legislature.

[5] The Arizona House of Representatives voted in favor of the bill a month later and it was signed into law by Governor Jane Dee Hull on May 17, 2002.

[7][8] Cottrell attended Arizona State University where he majored in political science, before attending Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business as a Connelly Fellow where he obtained an MBA, and the Harvard Kennedy School where he obtained an MPA.

[12] In 2023, Cottrell founded Shepherd's, a made-to-measure menswear company, with three other cofounders including Harrison Butker, kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs.