Allison was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and lived there until she was 30. She completed her Bachelor of Applied Arts, Human Geography from Ryerson University in 1987. Allison was hired by the City of Toronto Public Works Department, and subsequently by the Parking Authority of Toronto as a planner until 1992. Allison return to her studies at the University of Guelph and completed her Master of Landscape Architecture in 1994. She joined a multi-disciplinary firm in Coburg, Ontario approximately 100 miles east of Toronto.

In 1996, Allison moved to Jackson, Wyoming. She worked for 5 years as a landscape architecture intern for the firm Wirth Design. In 2000, she began working at Rendezvous Engineering, heading up their landscape architecture and land-planning department. She became a licensed landscape architect in Wyoming in 2001. In 2008, she left Rendezvous Engineering and opened her own firm, Inside Out Landscape Architecture, LLC.

In 2009 Allison was appointed to the Wyoming Board of Architects and Landscape Architects. She has served as Secretary, Vice President and President of the Board. She became involved in CLARB (Council of Landscape Architectural Regulatory Boards) in various ways, including being on Grading Committees, Redline Committees and in 2014, as Region IV Director. Allison stepped down from this position in 2015 as she dealt with leukemia. After recovering from leukemia, Allison was elected to the CLARB Board as Secretary in 2016. 

When Allison is not working, she can be found at Zumba, hiking with her dog, weight lifting, or hanging with her husband, Bud, and 14-year-old daughter, Kate. Allison loves animals, gardening, and knitting.