A four-year letter winner in volleyball, basketball, and tennis, Lark Birdsong also was a member of the track and field and field hockey programs at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) from 1968-1972. After graduating from UNC with a Bachelor of Arts degree in physical education, she was hired by University of Iowa women's athletics director Christine Grant to implement and coach a women's basketball program at the University of Iowa.

Although the women's basketball team's finished 5-16 in its first season, Birdsong achieved the program's first victory over the University of Minnesota. By her last season at Iowa, she led the team to an 18-11 record, the program's first winning season and laid a recruiting foundation that led to the success of subsequent coaches Judy McMullen (1979-1983) and C. Vivian Stringer (1983-1995).

After her time coaching at Iowa, Birdsong went on to earn an Masters of Business Administration degree in finance and accounting from Regis University, a Masters of Education degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a Masters of Library and Information Science degree in the Science of Information at the University of Washington.

She worked as an accountant for the Bird Oil Corporation from 1979-1981 and Premier Resources, Ltd., from 1981-1984. She was the assistant treasurer for Gary-Williams Companies from 1984-1987 and was the president for Business Lines, Ltd., from 1987-1985. After working in business development for Fiserv from 1992-1996, she became the general manager for the American Basketball League's Colorado Xplosion from 1996-1998. She joined the University of Denver as Director of Operations and Budget from 1998-2000, and was Director of Market Strategy for Wiley from 2011-2014 before becoming an independent higher education consultant (2014-present).