 Bundles grew up in Indianapolis in a family of civic minded business executives.She was named after her great-grandmother (via adoption) A'Lelia Walker (1885–1931), a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance and daughter of entrepreneur Madam C. J. Walker.Bundles' mother, A'Lelia Mae Perry Bundles (1928–1976), vice president of the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company and active in local and state Democratic politics, also served as a member of the Washington Township School Board and was a fiscal administrator with the City of Indianapolis.