[13][14] Reid grew up outside of Washington, D.C., and in the 4th grade began playing cello at her elementary school in Silver Spring, Maryland.

[21] After graduating, Reid began teaching at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, where she co-directed the string program for seven years.

[24] In 2010 Reid was also appointed Treasurer of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians[25] and played the Umbria Jazz Festival as part of the AACM Great Black Music Ensemble.

[5] The following year she was awarded a residency at the University of Chicago's Washington Park Arts Incubator[27] and released her first album with Hear In Now, a co-led trio with Mazz Swift and Silvia Bolognesi.

[28] After a three-year gap, starting in 2016 Reid has continued to organize the CJSS as an annual Chicago event during the first weekend of May, even though she moved to New York City for four years.

[11] In 2018, Reid performed with the Chicago Composers Orchestra in premiering her first orchestral composition,[45] and traveled to Ethiopia, where she studied the masenqo, an East African string instrument.

[46] She appeared on 2018 releases including a collective trio album with Dave Rempis and Joshua Abrams, titled Ithra;[47] Geometry of Caves, by a quartet with Kyoko Kitamura, Taylor Ho Bynum, and Joe Morris; and on Makaya McCraven's Universal Beings.

[48] In 2019, Reid was a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists recipient; the award assisted her in commuting between tour and work when she was notified in late August that she had received a fall appointment as Darius Milhaud Chair (visiting professor) in Music Composition at Mills College.