Kim was born and raised in southeastern Wisconsin.  She graduated from The University of Wisconsin-Madison with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1993.  She pursued graduate studies at Marquette University and in 1998 graduated with her Master of Science in Nursing with a concentration as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.

Kim spent the first 18 years of her career providing primary care in Racine, WI.

She and her husband Steve, daughter Gabriella, and son Zachary relocated to North Carolina in 2016.