Love was born Ludmya Bourdeau on December 6, 1975, in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Mary and Jean Maxine Bourdeau.[5] At a time of political repression, her parents emigrated together from Haiti in 1973,[6] leaving their two older children behind with family.[7][8] Her father had been threatened by the Tonton Macoute, the secret police in Haiti, and her parents traveled to the United States on a tourist visa.[9] They spoke only French when they arrived. Her father became a paint-company manager and her mother worked as a nurse.[10]
Love's birth enabled her parents to gain a US residency permit (green card) under an immigration law that favored immigrants from the Western Hemisphere who had a child born in the United States; it expired in early 1976.[7][11] They became naturalized citizens.[12]
When Love was five, her family moved from Brooklyn to Norwalk, Connecticut.[13] Love attended Norwalk High School.[9] She was raised as a Roman Catholic in the faith of her parents. After the family settled in Norwalk, her parents brought her older siblings from Haiti to reunite the family.[2][14]
Love attended the University of Hartford with a half-tuition scholarship.[15] She graduated with a degree in the performing arts. While at the University of Hartford, she participated in the Hartt School's Music Theatre program.[9]
After college, she worked at Sento Corporation and the Ecopass Corporation.[16] She was also a flight attendant with Continental Airlines.[11][17] She moved to Utah in 1998 after converting to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and while working for Continental. There she married Jason Love.