Graham is originally from Seattle, Washington. While at Clark University where he studied international development and social change, Graham was involved in Clark UNITE!, a student- and worker-led campaign to improve healthcare and wages for cafeteria staff. During college he studied rural development in Ghana, where he taught computer skills at an organization that provides job training to residents of the Agbogbloshie slum in Accra. After being exposed to issues of electronic waste dumping in Agbogbloshie and seeing its harmful effects on residents, Graham joined the Basel Action Network (BAN), where he was the technical and research lead on BAN's Illegal e-waste Export Tracking project. Prior to joining GHC, Graham lived in Portland, Oregon, where he was a freelance programmer and part of a local bicycle collective.