Cecily Clements grew up in San Francisco and attended French American International School where she studied French and Mandarin. She obtained her BA in Psychology with minors in Labor Relations and Russian Studies from the University of California at Los Angeles in 2001. While in college, Cecily studied abroad for one year in Lyon, France where she met many recent immigrants from Northern Africa, which sparked an interest in immigration and immigrant rights. Thereafter, Cecily volunteered for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles and participated in the Salvadoran-American Leadership and Educational Fund's Civic Leadership Program, where she studied political issues within the latino community and organized events to help recent immigrants access basic information about health care, civil rights and education. Cecily was also a founding member of the UCLA Students Against Sweatshops and wrote articles for UCLA's student newspaper regarding affirmative action, sweatshop abuses, and access to higher education for undocumented high school students.

Cecily graduated from Golden Gate University School of Law with honors in May, 2006. While at Golden Gate, she was a member of the Honors Lawyering Program and was a merit scholar. She was also the co-chair of the Queer Law Students Association. At graduation, Cecily was awarded the Rose Elizabeth Bird Award for Professionalism and Integrity.

Cecily speaks Spanish and French and enjoys cooking and playing soccer in her spare time.