She was raised by parents, Maria and Okonkwo Orji, who never attended school, in a remote town called Owelli with no electricity and pipe-borne water.

[6] Orji joined a master's program at Middle East Technical University, where she was the only African student in class.

[5] She joined McGill University as a postdoctoral fellow, where she worked on technological interventions that can effect behavioural change.

[15] Orji joined the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University as an assistant professor in 2017.

She analysed how reward, competition, social comparison and social learning differ between men and women in collectivist and individualist cultures, finding that in collectivist cultures, men are more susceptible to reward and competition.

[18] Orji is a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) diversity ambassador, working towards increased participation of women and minorities in computing, including using herself as a practical example.