In February 2016, she joined the General Services Administration as the director of the state and local practice at 18F,[1] a role she held until January 2020.

She attended Rolla High School and graduated, magna cum laude, from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.

In this role, she helped draft voting laws, train new political leaders and monitor elections in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

Since then, she has led international election observer delegations and promoted democracy in a dozen countries and currently serves on NDI's board of directors.

[6] During the Clinton Administration, Carnahan served as special assistant to the chairman of the Export–Import Bank of the United States, working on programs to help U.S. companies increase exports of US goods and services.

[7] Later, Carnahan founded and managed an international trade and business consulting firm to advise public and privately held US companies expanding into global markets.

In 2008, Carnahan worked with Missouri's local election authorities to ensure all eligible Missourians had access to the ballot box.

In the closeout audit at the end of her term in 2013, Republican State Auditor Thomas Schweich gave Carnahan's office the highest possible performance rating of "excellent".

She is a board member and serviced as a strategic adviser for LaunchCode,[21] an organization that connects people to economic opportunity through paid apprenticeships in programming and technology.

She has been regularly featured in the media and spoken before numerous national groups and congressional and legislative committees on finance, regulatory and elections issues.

Carnahan served in the House for six more terms and in 1961 was appointed by President John F. Kennedy as the first American ambassador to Sierra Leone.

Her mother, Jean Carnahan, became the first woman from Missouri to serve in the United States Senate from 2001 to 2003 when she was appointed to fill the seat Gov.