She interned in the African American and Latino communities of Watts & East Los Angeles and earned a master's degree in Social Work at UCLA in 1972.

[13] A devout Catholic, Córdova entered the Immaculate Heart of Mary convent after high school in 1966, but left in 1968 as she began to discover her sexual identity and became dissatisfied with the Church.

[26] She also worked as media director for STOP 64, the campaign to defeat the 1986 California Proposition 64 AIDS quarantine measure by Lyndon LaRouche.

[27] During the 1980s and 1990s, Córdova founded and published the Community Yellow Pages (1981–1999),[28] the first, and later the nation's largest, LGBT business directory; the New Age Telephone Book (1987–1992);[29] and Square Peg Magazine (1992–94), covering queer culture and literature.

She and her spouse, Lynn Harris Ballen,[30] co-founded a non-profit organization for economic justice, The Palapa Society of Todos Santos, AC,[31] and Córdova served as its first president until 2007.

They lived in the Hollywood Hills, California and Todos Santos, BCS Mexico, and created various media projects together - including Square Peg Magazine[38] and history-themed lesbian feminist cultural events, exhibits, and literature.

[40] Prior to death, Córdova wrote "A Letter About Dying, to My Lesbian Communities", a farewell missive published in several lesbian-related publications in September 2015, in which she informed the community of her terminal illness;[41][42] and donated a $2 million legacy gift to Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, creating the Jeanne R. Cordova Fund.