After completing her secondary studies,[4] Reese attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois earning a bachelor's degree in music.

[4][11] Earning acclaim and a scholarship for her performance, Reese moved to New York City, to continue her voice training with Léon Rothier and Lawrence Brown.

[2][3] Touring Europe, she performed both on stage and on the airwaves in Czechoslovakia, England, France, Israel, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and throughout Scandinavia.

Public debate on race began for the first time, the university sponsored a series of talks Racism and Democracy, and in 1960, the national trade union proposed a boycott on South African goods.

In 1972, a collection of her writings was published in Norwegian, Lang svart vei (Long Black Road) and in 1979, she released an album Motherless Child in 1979.

[2][14] Reese died on 25 October 1990 while giving an address against racism to the organization SOS Rasisme at a gathering being held in Oslo in her honor.

[1] 14 private photo albums and scrapbooks that she owned, and her unpublished manuscripts were left to The MiRA Resource Center for Black, Immigrant and Refugee Women.