Nhi Lan Le was born in Vietnam but her mother fled Saigon in 1975 with her children after it fell to the Viet Cong. Her mother, Hang Pham Le, started a restaurant in Atlanta, and eventually put nine children through college on her own. Nhi Lan Le attended the University of North Carolina, where she took up fencing, eventually graduating in 1987 with a business degree. Le won two medals at the 1999 Pan American Games, fencing épée, winning bronze in both the individual and team events. She later became a sales accountant for Sun Data.