She graduated from Meridian High School and earned her bachelor's degree from Alcorn State University in 1987.

She earned a master's degree in criminal justice administration in 1993 from the University of Central Texas and a Juris Doctor in 1999 from the Mississippi College School of Law.

[1] Riley Collins enlisted in the United States Army in 1985,[2] and served as an intelligence officer on active duty for 14 years.

She also served as the executive director of the Mississippi chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union from 2013 to 2019.

[3][4][5] She lost to Lynn Fitch, the Mississippi State Treasurer,[6] which ended the Democratic Party's streak of holding the office since 1878.