Burnham was born in New Amsterdam, Berbice, the youngest of eight children of schoolmaster James Nathaniel Harper and his wife Mary (née Chin).

After her father died the family moved to Georgetown, where she attended Bishops’ High School on scholarship.

In 1976, she was elected as Chairperson of what by this time had become the Women's Revolutionary Socialist Movement (WRSM).

Through the WRSM, Burnham was responsible for projects related to women's employment and education in Guyana as well as the greater Caribbean region.

[3] After the death of Forbes Burnham, she joined the cabinet of Desmond Hoyte as Vice President and deputy prime minister responsible for education, social development and culture in August 1985.