Lisa Paula Aron was born on August 9, 1968, in the Bronx, New York City, to Eleonore Pauline Goetz and Siegfried Aron. Her parents were both born in Germany, and her father was a Holocaust survivor. Aron became aware of the importance of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights while living under a dictatorship in Kenya, and her work often focuses on the discrimination her parents faced.

Eleonore Pauline Goetz Aron was born on July 2, 1946, in Velbert, Germany. In 1951, while immigrating to the United States, Eleonore and her family survived the sinking of the freighter vessel on which they were traveling. In early adulthood, Eleonore graduated from hairdressing school and worked at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. She married Siegfried Aron in 1966, and they had one child, Lisa Paula Aron, in 1968. The family moved to Kenya in 1982, and Eleonore home-schooled Lisa. After Eleonore’s stroke in 2015, Lisa began working on two historical novels. Eleonore remains the most influential person in Lisa's life.