Terah earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated magna cum laude from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. At Northwestern’s Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic, Terah represented clients in litigation and policy matters concerning prisoners’ rights abuses and police violence. Additionally, she served during law school on the Northwestern Prison Education Program’s Graduate Student Advisory Committee and tutored legal writing to incarcerated students at Stateville Correctional Center. Terah was awarded the Class of 2021 Service Award in recognition of her advocacy for incarcerated people and the Arlyn Miner Book Award for excellence in persuasive legal writing. She was also an editorial board member of the Northwestern University Law Review.

Following law school, Terah served two years as a staff law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.