Born 1963 in Črna na Koroškem, residing in Kotlje. Attended elementary and secondary school in Ravne na Koroškem; completed university studies at the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana, graduating in 1986.

Her professional career started with a traineeship at the Higher Court of Maribor, which was followed by employment at the District Court of Maribor (the unit in Slovenj Gradec) as a legal officer. After the bar exam she held management posts in the economic sector and state administration. From September 1989 till June 1990, she was head of the Personnel Department at the Gorenje Fecro company; from June 1990 to January 1995, she was head of the Department for Administrative and Internal Affairs at the Municipality of Ravne na Koroškem; and from January 1995 till October 2000, she was chief administrative officer at the Administrative Unit of Ravne na Koroškem. As chief administrative officer she participated in project groups of ministries where, in cooperation with municipalities, she tried to make state administration services friendlier to citizens.

In 2000, she was elected a deputy to the National Assembly. During the 2000–2004 term of office, she was also vice-president of the National Assembly and a member of the Committee on Domestic Policy, Public Administration and Justice, as well as of the Constitutional Commission. In her work as a member of parliament, she advocated solutions that would lead to an open, uniformly developed, knowledge- and health-friendly, market-oriented and socially just Slovenia.

During her professional career, prior to her nomination as minister of public administration, she has successfully managed her own law firm in Kotlje.