Before joining the Senate, she served 10 terms in the Georgia House of Representatives, where she was the first woman elected as House Majority Whip. She also held roles as the governor's floor leader, a committee chair, and a member of the Speaker's Policy Committee. A dedicated advocate for women and working families, Sen. Orrock is a founder of the Georgia Legislative Women's Caucus and the Working Families Legislative Caucus. She has chaired the Labor and Workforce Development Committee and the National Labor Caucus of Legislators. In recognition of her work, she received the Legislative Leadership Award from the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities and the State Leader Award from the Progressive States Network. She has been featured in Time magazine, Governing magazine and was named "Most Effective Local Elected Official" by Creative Loafing readers, who also honored her with the 2010 ARNIE "Loyal Opposition" award.

Sen. Orrock is a Trustee of the Sapelo Foundation and a board member of the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators. Her former board service includes Women's Action for New Directions (WAND), the YWCA, and Women in Government. She was President of the Women's Legislator Lobby and the former executive director of the Fund for Southern Communities. She also serves on the advisory council for SCLC W.O.M.E.N. and Georgia WAND, and is a member of the Bakery, Confectionery, and Tobacco Workers' International Union. Senator Orrock's civil rights activism includes the 1963 March on Washington for Job and Freedom, the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer and the Virginia Student Civil Rights Committee. She earned her B.A. in English from Mary Washington University and is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta. She is the proud mother of two grown sons.