Nellie Pratt Howard University's College of Arts and Sciences in 1907. She was very active in college and was initiated into Alpha Kappa Alpha during her sophomore year on February 11, 1909.  Pratt started a lifetime of service within her sorority by volunteering to distribute clothes and food to the poor.  She graduated in May of 1911 and as an active leader in the sorority prior to November 1911, the founders of Omega Psi Phi no doubt were encouraged by the formation of the first BGLO (AKA got approved by administration in Nov. of 1907) created at an HBCU to begin their own brand of brotherhood. 

She graduated from Howard University in 1911 and after two years of teaching in Kansas she moved  to Lawrenceville, Virginia to be closer to her mother after her father’s death.

 It was in Virginia where she began teaching at the St. Paul Normal and Industrial School (St. Paul's College).  By 1913, Along with Nellie Quander, Julia Evangeline Brooks, Norma Boyd, Minnie B. Smith, and Ethel Jones Mowbray worked together to incorporate Alpha Kappa Alpha on January 29, 1913, to provide for its future expansion to other colleges & perpetuity. 

Later that year she married Dr. J. Alvin Russell. During their marriage, Nellie Russell had four sons and one daughter. During her lifetime the couple raised four sons and 1 daughter and were diligent as educators, and community servants.

Pratt continued her education by acquiring a Masters from Columbia University and taught for nearly 50 years. She influenced generations of students and helped create teachers as excellent as she was. The 1927 version of Who's Who in Colored America included the biography of Nellie Pratt Russell in its collection of people who contributed to the science, culture, and overall development of U.S. society. In her recreational time she was well known for her green thumb and ability to bring plants back to life. She was particularly gifted at growing “African violets” from mere clippings and nursing them back to health. Pratt Russell also chartered the Gamma Lambda Omega graduate chapter and served as a faculty advisor to the Alpha Upsilon chapter of ΑΚΑ at St. Paul's College.

She was named "Woman of the Year" by the Omicron Omega chapter of  Omega Psi Phi. Fraternity Inc. She is also listed in some books as the “Mother of the Year” for an Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated chapter. This award read “for your constant source of knowledge, wisdom, strength and inspiration. Her daughter and three daughters-in-law all became members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority incorporated, her son in law and at least 3 of her sons became men of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated in addition to the couples’ massive other accomplishments. Mrs. Pratt Russell was active up to at least two months before her demise in 1979.