Ley Desborough was born and raised in Philadelphia Pennsylvania.  She attended Temple University Tyler School of Fine Arts in Elkins Park Pennsylvania and completed her degree in Fine Arts at York University in Toronto Ontario.

Ley studied modern dance at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New Your City.  She taught and performed with the Terez Nelson Modern Dance Company in Philadelphia.
 
In Toronto Ontario Ley founded the Vortex Intermedia Company having received a Canada Council Grant.

Ley continues to pursue her current interests in watercolour painting and, most recently, in writing poetry.

In 2022 Ley joined with friend and poet Cidalia Paiva to co-publish, Conversations in Poetry, which offers collections of poems by Cidalia Paiva and Ley Desborough.