Bowman was born in Iran and spent much of her childhood traveling abroad, as her father was a physician who assisted developing countries in establishing health care systems. In 1963 her family settled in Chicago. (Bowman's grandfather Robert Taylor was the first African American head of the Chicago Housing Authority.) She later attended Stanford University (A.B., 1978) and the University of Michigan Law School (J.D., 1981). In 1983 she married William Robert Jarrett, a physician; the couple divorced in 1988.

Working in corporate and real estate law until 1987, Jarrett moved into politics when she became deputy counselor for finance and development in the administration of Chicago Mayor Harold Washington (Washington, Harold). After Washington's death, Jarrett remained with the mayor's office and accepted several positions in the administration of his successor, Richard M. Daley (Daley, Richard M.). She served as Daley's deputy chief of staff and later as a planning commissioner. Jarrett was also chair of the Chicago Transit Authority from 1995 to 2003, and she served as chairman of the board for the Chicago Stock Exchange from 2004 to 2007. Beginning in 1995, she was executive vice president of the Habitat Company, a property management firm responsible for overseeing portions of Chicago's public housing system. Jarrett became CEO of the company in 2007.