Reid was born in Goulburn, New South Wales in 1956. Her parents emigrated from Edinburgh, Scotland to Australia in 1955 with her elder brother and sister. She grew up in Cooma, Khancoban and Talbingo due to her Scottish father working on the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Reid attended Tumut High School where she was school captain in 1973.  In 1974, she moved to Canberra to undertake a secretarial course at the TAFE college. In 1980, Reid commenced a bachelor of sports administration degree at the Canberra College of Advanced Education (now University of Canberra). She was one of the inaugural graduates of the course that started due to the establishment of the Australian Institute of Sport in 1981. After completing the sports administration degree in 1983, Reid was employed as CEO of ACT Touch Football.
