Rakes was born in Oklahoma and spent the first few years of her life in Guthrie, then moved with her parents to Danville, Illinois, and then to Peoria not long after. She was interested in acting from a young age, doing school plays from elementary to high school, only breaking to play basketball. The family moved again to New Mexico when Kristen was in eighth grade. After high school, she began college as a business major, only to switch to filmmaking after two years. Upon graduating with a degree in Moving Image Arts, Kristen was able to jump into crew work in art department thanks to New Mexico's burgeoning film industry.