Her paternal grandfather Anton Brnabić, an ethnic Croat Yugoslav military officer, was born in Stara Baška on the Croatian island of Krk, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, (present-day Croatia).

[8] Brnabić is a lesbian, the second female LGBT head of government in the world following Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (Iceland 2009–13), and fifth openly LGBT head of government overall following Jóhanna, Elio Di Rupo (Belgium 2011–14), Xavier Bettel (Luxembourg 2013–2023), and Leo Varadkar (Ireland 2017–20, 2022–2024).

In addition to her Serbian education, Brnabić holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) diploma of Northwood University, Michigan, USA, and an MBA of the University of Hull, England, UK, and worked for over a decade with international organizations, foreign investors, local self-government units, and the public sector in Serbia.

[18][19] [20] On the other hand, Brnabić has been criticised because she is the head of a conservative and nationalist government which also includes openly anti-Western and pro-Russian ministers.

[26] On 26 July 2018, Brnabić hosted a ceremony at the United States Congress in Washington, which was held to mark the 100th anniversary of raising the Serbian flag in front of the White House.

[35] He defined a situation in which the Prime Minister does not have their own political position as the chief of the executive as a “surrogate government”, explaining that a distribution of power that is contrary to constitutional determinants is a characteristic of non-democratic systems.

[35] In February 2019, Freedom House reported that Serbia's status declined from Free to Partly Free due to deterioration in the conduct of elections, continued attempts by the government and allied media outlets to undermine independent journalists through legal harassment and smear campaigns, and Vučić's accumulation of executive powers that conflict with his constitutional role.

[36] Opposition leaders and some observers describe her as a mere puppet of Vučić, whose presidency, according to the Constitution, is largely ceremonial with no significant executive power.

Brnabić, during the handover of a European Commission 2019 progress report, said: "Haradinaj, Thaçi and Veseli are competing to see who the biggest nationalist and chauvinist is.

"[42][43] This was met with strong criticism, particularly by Twitter users, who campaigned with the hashtag #literallyjustemergedfromthewoods in order to mock the Prime Minister.

[45][46] The deal came after months of diplomatic talks by Richard Grenell, the United States ambassador to Germany, who was named special envoy for Serbian-Kosovar relations by President Donald Trump the year before.

[45] In an interview on 14 November 2018 with the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, Brnabić denied that the July 1995 massacres of Bosniaks by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica had been an act of genocide.

[52] In February 2019, Milica Đurđić, Brnabić's partner, gave birth to a son named Igor, but same-sex marriage is constitutionally banned and LGBT parenting is not regulated in Serbia.

[53][54] She has been awarded a number of plaudits for the development projects on which she worked, for the promotion of socially accountable business operation and tolerance.