Ms. Richards grew up in Lamar County and graduated from Lamar County High School in Vernon, Alabama in 1991.  She attended Bevill State Community College and graduated from Mississippi University for Women in December 1995 with a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education. Ms. Richards graduated from the University of West Alabama with a Master's Degree in Library Media in the summer of 2000. Ms. Richards has experience teaching fifth grade and third grade as well as experience as a Library Media Specialist. Ms. Richards has been teaching for 18 years. For the last seven years, Ms. Richards taught in the Columbus Municipal School District in Columbus, Mississippi. She is currently teaching third grade at BES.

Ms. Richards recently moved to Fayette, Alabama in the fall of 2021. She has two sons, Garrett and Dillon.  Ms. Richards also has a two-year-old grandson named Silas.