Born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Birleffi received her B.A. degree in Broadcast & Film from Stanford University, and her Masters degree in Urban Affairs from Occidental College. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America, New York Women in Film and Television, and has taught undergraduate film production at the University of Southern California School of Cinema and Television. Birleffi has an abiding love of the performing arts, which she nurtured during her two-year stint as a clown in San Francisco many years ago, where she studied with Bill Irwin and the Pickle Family Circus.

Birleffi has also worked in feature film and served as a Second Assistant Director notably on Tell Me A Riddle, directed by Lee Grant, and First Assistant Director on the independent feature, Wildrose, directed by John Hanson.

In the late seventies, Birleffi worked as a Field Producer with Hugh Downs on a daily PBS magazine show on aging called Over Easy, produced by KQED/San Francisco. The series won a Peabody Award and several EMMYS.

Birleffi's roots in public television prepared her well for her rich and varied career in television. She has produced virtually every segment length from two minutes to two hours, covering breaking news to deep background pieces and biographies.

Her life partner, as well as business partner, is Beverly Kopf. They are professionally known as the "TV Gals". They are currently producing a behind-the-scenes DVD and TV special for the much-anticipated musical drama, Across the Universe, for Sony Pictures. They reside in New York City and Kerhonkson near the Catskills in upstate New York. Bobbie serves on the Board of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill.