Born into affluence, Parker grew up in New Jersey and New York and began working at a young age for magazines such as Vogue and Vanity Fair. She quickly established herself as a quick wit and garnered a reputation for herself as a sharp-tongued, wisecracking, and merciless observer and critic. She harnessed her talents and worked for much of her career as a theatre critic, but was most well-known for her poetry and fiction, much of which was cleverly disguised autobiography.
Rebellious by nature from a young age, Parker balked against the idea of her destiny being written for her.