Kara-Lis was born in Burlington, Canada, and began studying piano with the Royal Conservatory of Music from age 5. Her grandparents from her mother's side were immigrants from Estonia, and her father's side were Quarter Horse breeders. Kara-Lis has held positions as organist and music director at several churches across Canada since age 13, where she has also served as choir conductor. She later went on to complete with degrees in musicology and composition, for which she wrote a Masters thesis on the construction of timbral realism in mediated and recorded musics. She studied composition and media with David Myska, Omar Daniel, and Jay Hodgson, and piano with Ken Gee and Gwen Beamish. She is recipient of a “promising young artist” award by Canadian new music composer Ann Southam, has held residencies with GRM Paris, EMS Stockholm, FUGA Zaragoza and others, and presents original performances, commissions, collaborations, talks, and installations all over the world including The Barbican, Theatre du Chatelet, AGO, MAC Montreal, Teatro Circo, Kraftwerk, and Elbphilharmonie. She currently resides in Montreal.