Leann Buchman Blue was born in Mobile, Alabama, on October 7, 1962. She attended Julius T. Wright School for Girls. Leann attended Syracuse University and graduated from Emory University. Leann also earned her Masters Degree in Jewish Communal Studies from the Hornstein Program at Brandeis University. Leann has worked as youth director for the Seaboard Region of United Synagogue Of America in the northeast, and has held various positions as youth director with congregations in the Chicago area.

Leann married Michael H. Blue, a city planner from Chicago, on April 1, 1990, in New Orleans, Louisiana. They live in the Chicago area.