Originally from Frei in Møre og Romsdal, she graduated from the MF Norwegian School of Theology in 1980, and completed her practical training there in 1981. She worked as a consultant in the Church Council in 1981, and then was assigned to the parish in Elverum as a chaplain. In 1994 she became the parish priest in Løten, and in 2005 she became the personnel director for the diocese in Hamar. She is also the world's first female diocesan bishop to succeed another woman.