Moretti was born In Los Angeles, California and raised in Inglewood, California She has three siblings: two brothers and one sister. She studied public relations at the University of Southern California (USC), and she was a Cheerleader for the Los Angeles Express of the United States Football League in the mid-1980s. Prior to beginning her career in wrestling, Moretti worked as a make-up Artist for the cosmetic brand Revlon.

In her youth, Moretti wrestled with her two brothers and sister. Later, while attending the University of Southern California (USC), Moretti was, in her own words, "dragged by a friend" to an audition held by the newly formed Las Vegas, Nevada-based Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW). She was successful in her audition and went on to train under Mando Guerrero for six weeks, before beginning to wrestle in GLOW under the ring name Tina Ferrari. Moretti also formed a tag team with Ashley Cartier, known as T & A. She also defeated Colonel Ninotchka to win the vacant GLOW Championship, represented by a crown. She later wrestled for the Powerful Women of Wrestling promotion and the Ladies Professional Wrestling Association under the ring names Nina and Tina Moretti, winning the POWW Championship. On September 23, 1994 at UWF's Blackjack Brawl Moretti, under the name Tina Moretti, wrestled against Candi Devine for the vacant UWF World Women's Championship in a losing effort.

During this time, the women in the WWF were known more for their physical appearances and "sex appeal" rather than their wrestling abilities, and featuring women in strip matches or farcical "slop matches", a match that takes place in a pool of slop, were Common. Ivory, who was a trained Wrestler, won the Women's Championship on June 14, by defeating Debra and defended her title against Tori at SummerSlam on August 22. Her feud with Tori turned Ivory into a villainous character. Ivory continued to feud with Tori in the weeks following SummerSlam, defeating her in the first ever WWF women's hardcore match on September 6. Ivory was then challenged by Luna Vachon, who Ivory defeated in a farcical hardcore match at Unforgiven on September 26. SLAM! Wrestling called the match "pointless and senseless". In October 1999, Ivory feuded with The Fabulous Moolah, who defeated her for the Women's Championship on October 17, 1999 at No Mercy, in what John Powell of SLAM! Wrestling called the "worst match I've ever seen". She, however, defeated Moolah in a rematch on the October 25 episode of Raw to win her second Women's Championship. Her second title reign ended with a loss to Miss Kitty, an un-trained Wrestler, in a Four Corners Evening Gown pool match, a match where a Wrestler wins by stripping the evening gown off of her opponents, on December 12 at Armageddon.

After leaving WWE, Moretti began working in the landscaping industry. Moretti also worked with her niece to help the pet population affected by Hurricane Katrina. In addition, Moretti volunteered for an organization called Best Friends Animal Society, which is a no-kill animal shelter (a shelter that does not euthanize to control animal populations) in Utah. She also worked with her local animal shelter on San Juan Island in northwestern Washington, where she has resided since 2000. While working at the shelter, she met her eventual Business partner Jessica Ray, with whom she opened Downtown Dog in 2007. The facility is an animal daycare, as well as a training, grooming, and cat boarding company located in Friday Harbor, Washington. In June 2007, they expanded the Business to include veterinary care and later the Bow Wow Bus, which takes the dogs on outings. Moretti has taken classes to learn how to groom animals and now grooms them as part of the Business.

Ivory and the Right to Censor began feuding with Chyna after the latter posed for Playboy in late 2000. On the December 7 episode of Raw, Ivory and Val Venis delivered a double-team piledriver to Chyna which, in storyline, injured her neck. Chyna challenged Ivory for the Women's Championship at the Royal Rumble on January 21, 2001. Ivory retained her title when she pinned Chyna, who had appeared to re-aggravate her neck injury. Chyna challenged Ivory for the title once more at WrestleMania X-Seven on April 1 and defeated Ivory in a brief match, ending Ivory's third reign as Women's Champion. The Right to Censor stable was finally disbanded on April 26, 2001.

In early 2002, Ivory served as a trainer in the second series of Tough Enough. After the World Wrestling Federation was renamed "World Wrestling Entertainment" and the roster was split into two "brands", Raw and SmackDown!, Ivory was drafted to the SmackDown! brand. Continuing to portray a villainess, Ivory engaged in a brief feud with Tough Enough co-winners Linda Miles and Jackie Gayda, which led to her facing Miles on the June 8 episode of Velocity. Ivory won the match after Gayda shoved Miles off the top rope and costing her the match. On the June 13 episode of SmackDown!, Ivory teamed with Gayda in a losing effort against Miles and Trish Stratus. Along with several other SmackDown! Wrestlers, Ivory was traded to Raw in exchange for The Big Show in November 2002. Throughout the remainder of 2002, she teamed with Victoria in tag team matches and feuded with Trish Stratus.

After leaving WWE, Moretti began wrestling sporadically on the independent circuit under her birth name. On November 19, 2005 in Spartanburg, South Carolina at A Tribute to Starrcade, she teamed with Bambi to defeat Team Blondage (Krissy Vaine and Amber O'Neal) for the CCW Tag Team Championship. On April 21, 2006 in Surrey, British Columbia, Moretti defeated Rebecca Knox for Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW)'s NWA SuperGirls Championship. She also successfully retained her title in a match the following night. Afterward, Moretti decided to stay with ECCW to help create a strong women's division. She held the title for approximately five months before losing it to Nattie Neidhart on October 8, 2006.

On March 5, 2011, Moretti appeared at the Women Superstars Uncensored (WSU) 4 Year Anniversary event, where she was inducted into the WSU Hall of Fame. She also appeared on the event, preventing Rick Cataldo from interfering successfully in the WSU Spirit Championship bout, hitting Cataldo with the Poison Ivory, between Brittney Savage and Sassy Stephie. As a result, Stephie was able to win, capturing the championship and thanking Ivory for her help.

Ivory took part in the WrestleMania Axxess convention from WrestleMania 31 on March 2015. On January 27, 2016, she appeared on the WWE Network program Table for 3, along fellow Wrestlers Alundra Blayze and Molly Holly.

On February 12, 2018, it was announced that Ivory would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2018. At the ceremony on April 6, she was inducted by Molly Holly. On April 8 at WrestleMania 34, she appeared during transmission while she was introduced as part of the 2018 Hall of Fame class.