Jamie Foster Brown's hometown is Chicago, Illinois. Brown and her sister Stella Foster were raised in an Englewood, Chicago neighborhood. Her parents were Peter James and Mamie Lee Foster and they were neighborhood storekeepers. She was educated at Calumet High School, started college in Chicago, and later transferred and then graduated with a B.A. from Stockholm University. Her sister Stella Foster also wrote for Sister 2 Sister magazine, worked with Irv Kupcinet, an entertainment Journalist at the Chicago Sun-Times, and after his death wrote her own column and retired in 2012.