[5] Though she intended to major in computer science in college, she took a class in improvisation from Jimmy Cheatham at University of California, San Diego,[6] and started busking in the streets playing jazz flute.

[5] She also met drummer Maia, and bassist, sitarist and storyteller Shanta Nurullah, forming the all-female ensemble Samana and eventually joining the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).

In 1997 she began an association with saxophonist David Boykin [de], who encouraged her to start her own group, leading to Mitchell's establishment of the Black Earth Ensemble.

[5] In the early 2000s, she became a co-host for the Avant-Garde Jazz Jam Sessions in Chicago that were started by Boykin, bassist Karl E. H. Seigfried, and drummer Mike Reed.

[9] Mitchell issued her debut album, Vision Quest, with Black Earth Ensemble in 2001 on her label, Dreamtime Records.

[18] In 2019, she moved to the University of Pittsburgh as the Williams S. Dietrich II Chair of Jazz Studies and Professor of Music.