Judge Jara Howard is a native of Cabell County. She has a 1991 bachelor’s degree from Marshall University and a 1994 law degree from Ohio Northern University College of Law.

She was elected to the Sixth Family Court Circuit (Cabell County) in 2016 and re-elected in 2024.

She previously worked as a child support enforcement attorney with the West Virginia Bureau of Child Support Enforcement from 1994 to 1997. From 1997 until she took the bench, she was an assistant prosecuting attorney in Cabell County.

She is a member of the GFWC Women's Club of Huntington and Huntington Southside Garden Club. She volunteers her free time fostering and caring for dogs with the local animal rescues and the Huntington Cabell Wayne Animal Shelter.

She and her son live in Huntington.