Ratliff began her dance training at the age of nine at Highlands Center for Ballet Arts and continued dancing there through high school and college. She attended Radford University where she graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance with a classical concentration. While attending Radford, she studied a wide variety of dance styles under Inessa Plekhanova, Deborah McLaughlin, and Bob Boross. While at Radford, Olivia was selected to perform in a jazz dance showcase at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center in New York City as well as an Appalachian-based modern work at the College of New Jersey. She has performed many lead roles including Sugar Plum Fairy, Snow Queen, and Clara from The Nutcracker “Beauty,” in Beauty and the Beast, and Puck from A Midsummer Nights Dream, to name a few.  Olivia continued her education at King University where she obtained a Masters degree in Elementary Education while also teaching and dancing at Highlands Center for Ballet Arts. She taught first grade at Abingdon Elementary for four years. Currently, Olivia is a full-time dance instructor at Southwest Virginia Community College. Additionally, she has her Masters of the Fine Arts in Choreography from Wilson College​​