Freeholder Way owns two degrees: one in English and American literature from Brown University, and the other in law from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. She worked as a law clerk, a television producer for Court TV, and a literature professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University before her current position. She also works as an attorney with a Totowa law firm.
Way was admitted to the state bar in 1998.
She lives in Wayne with her husband, former New York Giants running back Charles Way and three children.