[5][6] Emery was born and raised in Kamloops, BC, and graduated from St. Michael's University School in Victoria, British Columbia.

[11] She was part of a national press conference hosted by Stop the Violence BC in April 2012 featuring former British Columbia attorney general Geoffrey Plant, Dr. Evan Wood, and the United States prosecutor of her husband, John McKay.

[12] During her husband's five year incarceration beginning in 2010 in the United States, Emery was active seeking the repatriation of her husband back to Canada,[13] including protests at Conservative Party constituency offices in 2010, including the Calgary office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper,[14] and holding a press conference inside Parliament alongside three Members of Parliament in October 2013.

[16] Jodie and Marc Emery were both arrested in Montreal, and subsequently released on December 16, 2016 after opening several new Cannabis Culture dispensaries in that city.

[18] On March 8, 2017, the couple was arrested at Pearson International Airport and the Cannabis Culture shops were raided, leading to charges on a number of offences.

[19] The couple had claimed that the operation of pot shops was a form of civil disobedience, but Justice Leslie Chapin ruled as follows: "No doubt there were pro social motivations that were behind the actions, but at the same time, I have to recognize that much profit was made".

From 2013 to 2014, Emery was a regular participant on the Global TV's BC1 channel show "Unfiltered" with Jill Krop, providing opinions on a wide range of current events and news stories.

Emery unsuccessfully[5] filed her intention to seek the nomination for the Liberal Party in the riding of Vancouver East, held in Parliament by NDP MP Libby Davies, who announced she would not run in the 2015 federal election.