She has an undergraduate degree in Biology and Environmental Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and received her PhD from the University of Washington's School of Fisheries. After completing her PhD, Beth worked for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) as the first Constantine S. Niarchos Fellow in Marine Conservation, and did a project on bycatch of endangered Humboldt penguins in the gillnet fishery out of Punta San Juan, Peru. She then served as Chief Scientist for the Pew Institute for Ocean Science, which is now the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science.