Here, she defeated her future husband in the election for Representative to the National Students’ Union, running for the Socialist Left Party.

[2] After travels in Latin America, Schulerud wanted to work for developmental organisations; however, she was engaged by the Ministry of International Development to study the environmental impact of World Bank projects.

This led her to break off her ongoing master's degree, and undergo the basic training for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that she finished in 1988.

In 1990, while she was stationed at the Norwegian embassy in Budapest, Hungary, her husband was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment, and this caused her return home to Norway.

She was the Deputy Director General for Central Europe and EEA-financing in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Norway until becoming the Norwegian Ambassador to Belgium in April 2015.