"[16] She attended the University of Virginia, majoring in history[14] with a minor in religious studies, and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

[20][21] Rapidly expanding and needing someone to help manage their efforts, they hired Nunn on a part-time basis as their executive director and only paid staffer (despite the title, she later described the position at first as "a glorified internship").

[14] Over the next twenty years, volunteers for Hands On Atlanta put in more than 6 million hours, and its founders credited Nunn with a significant role in helping it grow.

[24]) Subsequently, Nunn returned to focusing on Hands On Atlanta,[25] and staged a successful, multimillion-dollar capital campaign for a new headquarters building in that city.

[27] At a beach ceremony on Cumberland Island in Georgia on June 2, 2001, Nunn married Ron Martin Jr.,[28] who works in the real estate business.

[7] Nunn considered a run in the 2004 U.S. Senate election in Georgia, when Democratic incumbent Zell Miller decided to retire.

[33] In 2007, the Points of Light Foundation began talks with the HandsOn Network to join forces through a merger to create one national organization with local affiliates focused on volunteering and service.

Nunn presided over the merger, saying of its motivation, "We both could have continued along the route we were on, growing incrementally, but I believe neither of us would have achieved the kind of exponential change we wanted.

This became an issue during Nunn's 2014 Senate campaign,[38] as the umbrella organization Islamic Relief Worldwide has been accused of having ties to Hamas but has denied any such links.

[40] Though she was little known to voters,[41] Democrats embraced the hope that Nunn, with her executive experience as well as family name, could make their party once again competitive in-state.

"[43] Commenting on her public image, The New York Times said, "At 47, the cautious and cerebral Ms. Nunn is every bit her father's daughter, down to her owlish glasses and centrist message about curing dysfunction in Washington.

[42] Nunn's policy positions during the campaign emphasized her attempt to portray a moderate image and distance herself from the unpopular Obama administration.

[54] She declined to say whether she would have voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act had she been in the Senate but said that going forward, some aspects of it should be fixed rather than the whole law being eliminated.

[43] Following the start-up problems with the associated HealthCare.gov website, Nunn broke with the Obama administration and said that the individual mandate portion of the law should be delayed.

[56] Nunn favored construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline[15] and opposed the Obama administration's proposed cuts to defense spending.

[43] Nunn was endorsed by EMILY's List, a political action committee that assists pro-choice Democratic women with their campaigns.

[59] She proposed that members of Congress should be forced to pass a budget each year or forfeit their pay, said there was blame on both sides for ongoing Congressional dysfunction, and declined to say whether she would support Harry Reid remaining as Senate Majority Leader.

[15][35] Nunn made her father a focal point, staging joint appearances with him at military bases and saying that she would emulate his bipartisan approach to legislating.

[61] However, the use by Nunn's campaign commercials of photographs of her with George H. W. Bush drew a series of objections from the former president, who endorsed Perdue.

[62][63] Neil Bush neither endorsed nor opposed her candidacy,[14] but did object to some of Perdue's negative ads based upon her time with Points of Light.

"[42] Her performance in the campaign impressed political observers enough that they felt Nunn could try for another run at elective office in the state if she desired to do so.

[72] The 70-year-old CARE faced challenges due to the aging of its donor base, reduced U.S. government funding, and the effects of the Great Recession.

[73] With CARE, Nunn has sought to leverage the skills and concerns of women leaders in the Atlanta area – which besides CARE is also home to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Carter Center, MAP International, MedShare, the Task Force for Global Health, and Habitat for Humanity International – to produce a "greater global constellation" that would look at the requirements of women and children around the world who were in situations of extreme.

[76] Nunn also expressed concern over isolationist tendencies in American foreign policy: "For more than 70 years, the United States has led efforts to promote peace, prosperity, and share values to foster global stability.

"[76] In 2018, Nunn became a member of the Inter-American Dialogue, a U.S.-based think tank that seeks to foster better governments, prosperity, and social equity in Central and South America.

[78] By 2021, Nunn and CARE USA were heavily involved in trying to facilitate deployment of COVID-19 vaccines in low-income countries and constructing temporary medical facilities to address a devastating wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India.