Elif Yılmaz studied business administration for 2 years at Middle East Technical University and 2 years at State University of New York at Binghamton as part of the International Joint Diploma Program offered by METU and SUNY at Binghamton. She graduated with degrees from both schools in June 2018. Then, she worked for one of the big four financial auditing companies as an audit assistant for a year.

Elif Yılmaz, worked at TEPAV between December 2019 and March 2021 as a Research Associate.