Laïla Nehmé was born in Beirut, Lebanon, where she attended high school.
A meeting with a restorer of ceramics from a dig in northern Lebanon prompted her to seek higher studies in archaeology.
[1] Nehmé attended the Pantheon-Sorbonne University, where Jean-Marie Dentzer guided her research between 1991 and 1994.
She began to conduct excavations in Syria and Jordan, and to specialise in the epigraphy of northern Arabic.
[1] Nehmé has been directing excavations at Mada'in Saleh, an ancient Nabataean centre.