She moved to Toowoomba in 1986, where she worked and owned a number of businesses in the local hospitality industry.
[3][4] On 26 June 2007, Thorley confirmed that she would not seek re-election for mayor in March 2008, or any other council position.
In 2016, Thorley ran as an independent candidate in a by-election for the Electoral district of Toowoomba South in the Queensland Legislative Assembly.
[7][8][9] In light of the region's worst drought in a hundred years, which saw the city's dam storages fall below 25% capacity, in 2006 Mayor Di Thorley championed a plan (Toowoomba Water Futures) to build a recycled sewage plant that would process the city's sewage and use the resulting water for re-use.
A referendum determining community support for the project was held on 29 July 2006 in which a majority (61.87% of voters) said "No" to the proposal.