[1] In 2009, Gandy was a resident fellow at the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Kim Gandy graduated from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics.

Having taken a job with American Telephone and Telegraph, Gandy became outraged that the firm required her husband's permission for employee benefits.

In 1973, she joined Louisiana NOW and devoted the next several years to the campaign that overturned the state's Head and Master law, which gave husbands unilateral control over all property jointly owned by a married couple.

Gandy served as a senior assistant district attorney in New Orleans and later opened a private trial practice, litigating cases seeking fair treatment for women.