Nancy-Ann Min was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to a Chinese immigrant father and a Euro-American mother.

[8] She attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where her major was history and her senior thesis was entitled "Uncle Sam, Hirohito, and Resegregation: The Tule Lake Segregation Center, 1943-1946."

[7] After graduating from Tennessee, she enrolled in Harvard Law School, but interrupted her studies there when she was awarded a Rhodes scholarship.

DeParle was a partner at the law firm of Bass, Berry & Sims in Nashville before serving as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Human Services in the cabinet of Governor Ned McWherter from 1987 to 1989.

In November 2011, DeParle was included on The New Republic's list of Washington's most powerful, least famous people.